Activist fined for taking picture with protest poster

A municipal court in Russia's Kuban region has fined local activist Nina Solovyeva 20,000 rubles (just over $300) for organizing an unauthorized mass movement in the form of having her picture taken while holding a poster.

On the way to court for a hearing on the case of detained Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, Solovyeva had her picture taken on the roadside with her acquaintance Viktor Chirikov; in her hands she held a poster calling for the release of political prisoners, most notably detained activist Daria Polyudovaya.

According to activist Aleksey Knedlyakovsky, Solovyeva became the subject of an investigation after the photograph was posted on Twitter. Solovyeva herself has said that she was called in for questioning after an unknown person filed a complaint against her at the Anti-extremism Center. Authorities have called Solovyeva's roadside event a picket movement.