Everything is new

Participants in the failed single pickets at the special detention center on Simferopol Boulevard, detained on January 3, were awaiting trial on January 4 for violating the rules of holding a picket. However, the trial did not take place, and they again went to the special detention center, where the oppositionists, arrested by court decisions on December 31 and January 2, are sitting - the leader of the Other Russia Eduard Limonov (15 days), the activist of the Other Russia Kirill Manulin (8 days), one of the leaders of the People's Freedom Party Boris Nemtsov (15 days), Left Front activist Konstantin Kosyakin (10 days), one of the leaders of the Movement against Illegal Immigration Vladimir Tor (10 days), activist of the People's Freedom Party Ilya Yashin (5 days). Nemtsov, Kosyakin and Yashin were detained on Trimfalnaya Square, Limonov and Manulin, who were going there, were taken upon leaving Limonov’s apartment, and Thor was taken at the monument to Georgy Zhukov, where he was invited for a conversation by the official representative of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate, Viktor Biryukov.

With potential picketers on January 4, the same story as on January 3 repeated itself. Over 15 people were detained, although they were not participating in the picket at that moment. Among those detained are Solidarity member and author of the Daily Journal Alexander Podrabinek, Left Front activist Sergei Udaltsov, and editor-in-chief of the Daily Journal Alexander Ryklin. This time, the pickets were accompanied by a provocation from activists of one of the pro-Kremlin movements - they stood next to the picketers, holding their posters with slogans like “Nemtsov is sitting correctly.” The idea behind their posters was that there is no need to put pressure on the court. The detainees, including the Kremlin youngsters, were taken to the Nagorny police station. As Ekho Moskvy reports, Udaltsov seemed to have managed to come to an agreement with the police that none of the picketers would be detained, but the provocateurs did their job.

The pickets at the special detention center were preceded by a series of single pickets at the Moscow City Hall. The opposition plans to continue picketing the city hall and the special detention center in the following days.