Internet giant YouTube has blocked RFE/RL's Russian Service and Russia's Dozhd television from using a clip from an August 30 election debate shown on Russian state television in which candidate Maksim Shevchenko called for the release from prison of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and other "political prisoners."
"The domestic policies of this country are suffocating and oppressive," said Shevchenko, who heads the party list for the Party Of Freedom And Justice in the September 17-19 elections to the State Duma, Russia’s lower parliament chamber. "We have no freedom of speech, freedom of political discussion, or freedom of assembly."
The debate was aired on Rossia-24 state television, which is part of the state-owned All-Russia State Television and Radio Company (VGTRK). VGRTK asked YouTube to block the use of the video, citing copyright infringement.
SEE ALSO: Likely United Russia Voter Wants 'Strong, Solid, Powerful' StateYouTube did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
In a remark posted to his own YouTube channel, Shevchenko said the Russian government does not have the right to claim copyright of "a part of the political process."
Other clips from the debates aired on Rossia-24 and Rossia-1 remain accessible on YouTube.
Navalny was arrested in January upon his return to Russia following treatment in Germany from a nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on Federal Security Service operatives working at the behest of President Vladimir Putin.
He is currently serving a 2 1/2-year sentence for allegedly violating the conditions of an earlier suspended sentence on charges he says were retribution for his opposition political activity.