Two people detained at a rally in support of Navalny were accused of “repeated” violations

Two people detained during a rally in support of Alexei Navalny in Nizhny Novgorod were accused of repeated violation of the procedure for organizing a rally, and four were accused of violating the procedure for holding a public event. The chairman of the local Memorial, Arkady Galker, told OVD-Info about this.

In total, seven people were detained at the gathering on Markin Square, including one minor. They were taken to police department No. 2. Protocols were drawn up against the detainees, Ilya Myaskovsky and Nikita Pavlov, under Part 5 of Art. 20.2 of the Administrative Code (violation of the procedure by a participant in a public event). A report was drawn up against Vladimir Kravtsov and Eduard Chuprov under Part 8 of Art. 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (repeated commission of an administrative offence). For Stanislav Dmitrievsky and Dmitry Kalinichev - under Part 5 of Art. 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses and under Art. 19.3 Code of Administrative Offenses (disobedience to a police officer).

All detainees were released from the police department, except for the minor. He was placed in the Brigantine social rehabilitation center for minors until his parents arrived.

Before this, the police detained the coordinator of Navalny’s local election headquarters, Anna Petkoglo, and two employees of the headquarters, Yevgeny Goligorov and Svetlana Lubina. At police department No. 1, Petkoglo was charged with Art. 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (violation of the procedure for holding a public event). All three were released without protocols, taking explanations.

Previously, the local administration first agreed on a rally-meeting with the oppositionist, and then canceled its decision. The officials replied that the site was occupied, which means that the planned action would be considered uncoordinated. Later, Nizhny Novgorod authorities announced that on September 29, Markin Square would be closed to transport - on this day, the festival of culture, sports and tourism “Positive Nizhny” was supposed to take place there.

Despite this, Navalny’s supporters decided to hold the rally anyway and began preparing for the event. On the morning of September 29, police dismantled the stage and seized equipment for the rally. Afterwards, the head of the federal headquarters, Leonid Volkov, went to the police department to write a statement under Art. 149 (obstruction of a rally). There he was detained and a report was drawn up under Part 8 of Art. 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (repeated violation by a participant of a public event of the procedure for holding it). In the evening it became known that police officers were taking Leonid Volkov to the airport.