MOSCOW, March 14 (UPI) -- The Kremlin was right to allow political protests but wrong to respond with force after election results came in, Human Rights Watch said.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin secured a non-consecutive third term as president in March 4 elections. Opposition groups rallied in Moscow and elsewhere, saying the election was fixed.
Human Rights Watch said it welcomed the tolerance displayed by the Kremlin during the political campaign season but was frustrated by reports that pro-democracy activists were detained and beaten after the presidential contest.
"Russian authorities did the right thing in the last few months by allowing legitimate protests to go on without police interference," Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. "Cracking down on peaceful protesters now, after the election is over, negates that positive development."
Observers with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Putin's challengers were able to compete openly, though conditions were skewed in his favor. Similar complaints were issued by the OSCE after Putin's United Russia party secured a victory in State Duma elections in December.
Lawmakers in Moscow agreed to form a working group to investigate reports of fraud during the December election, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.
