The deputy and journalist who were sitting in the Crimean pre -trial detention center announced a hunger strike

Journalist Aleksey Nazimov and deputy of the city council of Alushta Pavel Steppanchenko, who accused of extortion, who were sitting in SIZO No. 1 in SIZO No. 1, announced a hunger strike on March 23.

Steppanchenko, Nazimov and the video operator Andrei Olezov, who is currently under house arrest, was arrested in October 2016. In a statement addressed to the Crimean prosecutor, which is at the disposal of the OWD-Info, Nazimov writes that he considers the case as fabricated and that the reason for his persecution is criticism of Alushta officials, representatives of United Russia. Steppanchenko wrote a similar statement.

As Lawyer Alexei Ladin, who represents Nazimov’s interests, according to the documents transferred by the investigation to the court, explained to the OVD-Info, all three are accused of extortion by a group of people on a large scale. According to the investigation, they demanded that the representative of “United Russia” pay them for non -publication of the materials discrediting him. In addition, Nazimov is accused of extortion of a ritual company, the charge, according to Ladin, is based on statements by representatives of the company.

Steppanchenko previously actively opposed the development in Alushta. In June 2016, after the campaign against development, he was sentenced to 30 hours of public work for an inconsistent rally and to five days of arrest for disobedience to the legal order of police officers. Nazimov and clocks, as the New Gazeta indicates , the only ones among local journalists illuminated the activities of the opposition.