Such a week. Issue No. 2

Hello, dear readers of OVD-Info ! Our editors care about you and tell you what important things happened this week in the field of political persecution in Russia (and sometimes how to survive and protect yourself in the midst of it).
We decided to experiment a little and slightly change the format of the newsletter, so if you are missing something and have any comments or suggestions, send them to [email protected] with the subject line “newsletter”.

Yekaterinburg “Pokémon catcher” - video blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky - was released in the courtroom: the court did not send him to a colony, as the prosecution requested, but sentenced him to three and a half years probation . Sokolovsky was accused of insulting the feelings of believers and inciting hatred for several rude videos; later, these charges were supplemented by an article about the illegal acquisition of special equipment due to the fact that during a search a “spy pen” was found on him. We collected quotes from the speeches of prosecutor Ekaterina Kalinina in court to understand how the logic of the prosecution was built.

Five years have passed since the events on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow. Moscow police marked this date by detaining seven people - some standing in single pickets, others sitting on a bench. Later, five people were released from the department, four without a protocol . The two activists were left overnight. They refused to let the defense attorneys into the department, and the next day they did not allow witnesses or the public into the court. Maria Ryabikova and Elena Zakharova were fined large amounts.

The ban and liquidation of Jehovah's Witnesses provoked an increase in cases of vandalism directed against this religious organization. In at least four cities at night, unknown persons broke windows, broke gates and fences in houses where worship services of Jehovah's Witnesses used to take place.

Convicted in the Bolotnaya case, Ivan Nepomnyashchikh, who was beaten in a colony, was left in a punishment cell for another six days this week. In total he spent 21 days there. Despite the fact that the Strasbourg court ordered Russia to allow defense lawyers to see him and several other prisoners, it was only after the repeated intervention of the ECHR that a lawyer was allowed to see him.

Next week, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow is due to pronounce a sentence on actor Yuri Kuliy. He is accused of using violence against a police officer during an anti-corruption rally on March 26. The video shows that he only tried to stand up for the elderly man. Kuliy admitted guilt and entered into an agreement with the investigation, so that the court will not examine the evidence. Currently, Kuliy remains in a pre-trial detention center , although even the prosecution asked to transfer him to house arrest. You can read in detail about the falsification of criminal cases against participants in the March 26 rally here .

View/read

Journalist Sofiko Arifdzhanova told what it’s like when you have a panic attack in a police station.

The defender of the Moscow Dubki park, Dmitry Boynov, who is accused of attacking a private security company, talks about himself and the case that was brought against him.

Such a week!

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