Vigil at Rakhat Aliyev court hearing in Vienna
Protesters assemble outside the Vienna Criminal Court during Rakhat Aliyev’s July 21 hearing, calling for #JusticeForNovikova.
A group of protesters is holding a vigil in front of the Vienna court house where Rakhat Aliyev is to attend a hearing today to plead for his freedom.
The protesters are wearing #JusticeForNovikova shirts. They tweeted the accompanying photo.
At the time of this posting, the international group is standing in front of the Vienna Criminal Court (Landesgericht für Strafsachen Wien) on Landesgerichtsstraße, the broad boulevard in the Austrian capital.
Scheduled for today, July 21, the Rakhat Aliyev court hearing is to consider the accused murderer’s plea to be set free and have the murder charges dismissed, or whether to put him on trial in Austria.
Aliyev is being held in the neighboring jail until Austrian authorities decide whether or not to prosecute him on two counts of murder and other charges, for crimes allegedly committed in Kazakhstan.
The #JusticeForNovikova contingent is there to urge Austrian authorities to investigate evidence pointing to Aliyev’s role in Anastasiya’s murder in 2004.
To respect local laws and norms about protests, the #JusticeForNovikova activists did not plan an actual demonstration, but are standing silently, by themselves, reminiscent of the “standing man” passive protest in Turkey.
They did, however, display posters for photographers.
Although not faced in Austria with the police brutality that demonstrators faced in Turkey, the purpose behind the quiet protest, #JusticeForNovikova activists say, is to create a mere presence without violating local laws.
#RakhatAliyev #StandingMan #JusticeNovikova #JusticeForNovikova
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