Pensioner asks bus driver to take down z-sign, gets handed over to police

In Ulan-Ude a bus driver took a pensioner Natalia Filonova to the police station for asking him to remove the Z-sign from the cabin. There the woman felt ill and was taken to hospital, the People of Baikal publication reports citing human rights activist Nadezhda Nizovkina.

On April 26, Filonova got on a bus at the stop «Barguzin Hotel». When a conflict arose between her and the driver, he refused to remove the Z-sign and said he was not going anywhere until the pensioner got off the bus. She refused to leave, so the man dropped the other passengers off, closed the doors, and took Filonova to the police station.

«It appears the driver turned his minibus into a paddy wagon and took Filonova to the police station. The driver detained her himself. I don't know who told him to do so,» says Nizovkina, who represents Filonova.

At the police station, a report was drawn up in connection with »disorderly conduct» (Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). Nizovkina suggests it was because such an offence is punishable by up to 15 days of arrest. As of 27 April, Filonovais in hospital.

People of Baikal emphasizes that this is not Filonova's first detention. The woman participated in numerous rallies in support of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and in 2021 she was fined twice for repeatedly violating the rules of participating in a rally. Their total amount of the fines was 400,000 rubles. Bailiffs seized Filonova's accounts, and the payments on account of the fines were deducted from her pension, her sole source of income.