U.N. rights boss decries clampdown, arrests of anti-war protesters in Russia

FILE PHOTO: Michelle Bachelet, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights attends the special session on the situation in Ukraine of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 4, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

GENEVA (Reuters) - The ability to criticise public policy in Russia, particularly its invasion of Ukraine, is narrowing, with some 12,700 people unlawfully detained in anti-war protests, the top U.N. human rights official Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday.

"I remain concerned about the use of repressive legislation that impedes the exercise of civil and political rights and criminalising non-violent behaviour," Bachelet told the Human RIghts Council in Geneva, speaking by video message.