March 7 - 11. Chronicles of current events

*“Chronicle of current events” - a typewritten human rights information ballot, distributed in Samizdat in 1968-1983

“Until now, we, journalists, responded to violence and pressure only by our publications - or we were requesting to restore justice to the authorities. This did not bring results.
Past attacks on our colleagues remain unpunished - as in the case of journalist Oleg Kashin. Our colleagues are in prison for absurd accusations - as in the case of RBC journalist Alexander Sokolov. In this situation, we believe that only solidarity and an attempt to unite ” - from the statement of the journalists of the Mediazone on the creation of the trade union, our answer can be our answer

For shares in support of Nadezhda Savchenko, Moscow, March 8, 2016. Photo: YouTube.com/sashasotnik

March 8, Tuesday

In Moscow, participants in the action were detained in support of Nadezhda Savchenko. More than 30 people were detained on the Triumphal Square, who did not even have time to deploy posters. Subsequently, some of the detainees were released from the police department, others spent the night in the departments and appeared to the court on charges of violating Art. 19.3 and part 5 of Art. 20.2 Administrative Code.

March 9, Wednesday

Putin signed a law that equalizes automotive raids and tent towns to demonstrations and pickets. Citizens who decided to establish “collected structures” (including campaign cubes) without coordination with the authorities, faces a fine for “picket” up to 300 thousand rubles, officials-up to 600 thousand rubles, legal entities-up to 1 million rubles. The same punishment threatens, for example, for travel in a car procession - according to the new law, this is from now on is considered a “demonstration”.

On the border of Chechnya and Ingushetia, a cruel attack on human rights activists and journalists was committed. The minibus of the Committee on the Prevention of the Torture, on which the victims were heading to Grozny, cut the car of the attackers. The attackers pulled people out of the car, threw them onto the side of the road and set fire to a minibus (for more details see page 10).

Later on the same day, an attack was made on the office of the Committee on Prevention of Torture in the village of Yandar in Ingushetia. This was announced by the organization’s lawyer Dmitry Utukin. CCTV cameras recorded that five cars drove up to the office, from which people armed with machine guns jumped out.

March 10, Thursday

A series of single pickets against the attack on journalists took place in Moscow. The activists went to single pickets with the presidential administration demanding that they were guilty of a brutal attack on journalists and human rights activists, which occurred the day before on the Chechen-Ingush border. On the initiative of the Mediazona publication in Moscow, the journalists trade union were also established.

On the fact of the brutal beating of journalists and human rights activists and arson of their car in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia, “the issue of initiating a criminal case under Art. 167 (intentional destruction or damage to property) and Art. 213 (hooliganism). "