For a stone

In Moscow, rallies have been taking place for several days in defense of Taisiya Osipova, an activist of the “Other Russia” from Smolensk, who is accused of drug possession (according to her relatives, the charge is falsified, and activists of pro-Kremlin youth movements act as witnesses) and is kept in prison despite that she has a five-year-old child and is diabetic. Other Russia activists and other protesters make their way through the fence to the Solovetsky Stone and sit down on the ground next to it. They are immediately seized, accused of breaking a non-existent chain, and roughly detained. Those who are taken to the notorious Kitai-Gorod police station are especially hard hit - some of the detainees are beaten there, and on July 18, five protesters were left in the police station overnight.

On July 20, more than 10 people once again came to the Solovetsky Stone and were detained. Defense activist Alexei Kazakov was severely beaten. Some of the detainees were taken to the Basmanny police station, where everyone’s passport details were copied and released. Those taken to Kitay-Gorod were kept there until two o’clock in the morning, and protocols were drawn up for all of them for disobedience to a lawful order of a police officer.