Search at the headquarters of Navalny supporters in Kirov

On May 8, 2013, in Kirov, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs conducted a search at the local headquarters of support for Alexei Navalny under the pretext of checking “for extremism.” Several hundred leaflets and other printed materials were seized, including three hundred copies of the newspaper “For Navalny,” as well as banners used during rallies and authorized pickets that took place in the city during the court hearings in the Kirovles case. According to the police, the search was carried out in connection with a message from a certain citizen, whose name has not been disclosed, that Navalny’s headquarters was “making extremist leaflets.” The message allegedly arrived at the duty station of the city Department of Internal Affairs at 9 p.m., after which a search immediately took place, coordinated with the prosecutor’s office, and lasting about seven hours. Headquarters employees sent complaints to the heads of regional and federal law enforcement agencies about violations of the search procedure: according to them, the investigators did not compile an inventory of the seized documents and did not give them a protocol for an urgent inspection of the crime scene.

Later it became known that the remainder of the circulation of the newspaper “For Navalny” was confiscated from the courier service; in total, we are talking about 100 thousand copies. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the materials seized during the searches were sent for examination.

On May 29, 2013, it became known that the newspaper's circulation was confiscated on the basis of a letter from Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Kirov Region Alexander Pereskokov to the head of the regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Sergei Solodovnikov, which contained a request to inform the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the opinion " on the presence of extremist calls " in the newspaper (called a leaflet in the letter ).

We consider the actions of law enforcement agencies to be unlawful. To check texts for signs of extremism, one or several copies of printed materials are sufficient; mass seizure is possible only when the materials are recognized by the court as extremist.

Sources

• Ivan Sergeev. They came to Alexei Navalny for leaflets // Kommersant. 2013. May 13.
• 100 thousand copies of the newspaper “For Navalny” were confiscated in Kirov // Lenta.Ru. 2013. May 13.
• Newspapers “For Navalny” were confiscated at the request of the government of the Kirov region // Lenta.ru. 2013. May 29.