The head of Ulyanovsk Solidarity will not be punished for numerous pickets

The court did not agree with the police’s demands to punish the leader of the Ulyanovsk “Solidarity” Igor Toporkov for exceeding the declared number of participants in the picket in support of the Kuzbass miners. Observers note that for the first time the court did not take the side of the police in this issue. Now Mr. Toporkov intends to sue the city police department for abuse of power during his detention.

On Thursday, the leader of the Ulyanovsk branch of the Solidarity movement, Igor Toporkov, appeared before the Zavolzhsky District Court of Ulyanovsk. The police demanded administrative punishment for Mr. Toporkov as the organizer of the picket, who allowed the number of picketers to exceed the number.

The action itself in support of the demands of Kuzbass miners took place on May 22 of this year. According to the submitted application, the number of picketers was expected to be around 20 people, but in fact there were more. The police counted 40 participants, although, according to Mr. Toporkov, “the picketers he invited were 12 people, but if you count those people who came up expressing their solidarity, then you can count up to a hundred people.” The police, citing an excess of the declared number, demanded that the protest be stopped, but they did not disperse the picketers. But after the event, the organizer of the picket, Igor Toporkov, was taken to the district police department, where he was kept for another 40 minutes, drawing up a report on the administrative violation he committed, “expressed in exceeding the number of protesters.” Mr. Toporkov did not agree with the protocol, believing that such a violation as exceeding the number of pickets does not exist.

The head of the Ulyanovsk human rights foundation, Igor Kornilov, who defended the interests of Mr. Toporkov in court, said that Federal Law No. 54-FZ “On meetings, rallies, demonstrations, processions and picketing” of June 19, 2004 does not say that excess numbers are a violation, and also as well as there are no types of punishment for this.

Police representatives did not appear in court. The judge, after listening to the testimony of Mr. Toporkov and his representative, took into account that, judging by the documents, the police did not provide evidence of the violation. The administrative prosecution was terminated due to lack of evidence.

Mr. Toporkov noted that the judge’s decision was unexpected for him, since he expected the maximum fine (2,000 rubles) and was sure that he would have to go through all the authorities to defend his rights. In his memory, this is the first time in Ulyanovsk when a judge, considering a case on violations during protests, did not take the side of the police.

It is unknown whether law enforcement agencies will appeal this decision. The Central Internal Affairs Directorate explained that the police were not present at the trial because “the person who drew up the protocol to whom the summons was sent resigned from the internal affairs bodies a month ago and left Ulyanovsk.” According to the acting Head of the Internal Affairs Directorate for Ulyanovsk Sergei Arapov, “first we need to thoroughly understand the details of this case, but it will still be possible to draw conclusions only after receiving a court decision.”

Mr. Kornilov considers the attempt to punish for excess numbers “arbitrariness or incompetence of the police.” Igor Toporkov, in turn, believes that “pressure was exerted on the police from above.” At the same time, he now intends to go to court with a claim against the city police department for abuse of power.

Sergey Titov, Ulyanovsk

The court did not agree with the police calculations