The leader of the OPR was fined 20 thousand rubles due to the April motor rally

The Smolninsky District Court of St. Petersburg fined the leader of the Association of Carriers of Russia (OPR) Andrei Bazhutin 20 thousand rubles because of the April motor rally. Zacks writes about this. RU".

Judge Ekaterina Mezentseva found the truck driver guilty under Part 2 of Art. 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (organizing or holding a public event without giving notice) due to the organization of a “procession with the participation of vehicles” on April 15, 2017. That day, truck drivers protesting against the Platon system wanted to organize a car rally to Palace Square. Almost from the very beginning of the action, they were prevented by employees of the Russian Guard, police and traffic police, who subsequently detained eight activists.

Bazhutin himself did not come to the hearing (on December 27 he disappeared from court, and a few days later it became known that he had fled prosecution). As noted in the Zacks report. Ru,” Bazhutin’s supporters who gathered to support him, later claimed that he had to hide due to political repression.

In this regard, human rights activist Dinar Idrisov, representing the interests of the activist, filed a petition to postpone the consideration of the case, but Mezentseva rejected it.

The judge also refused to allow photo and video recording, including for media representatives. At the meeting, Mezentseva did not use a microphone, which is why listeners could not understand her speech. Idrisov requested the use of a microphone or at least “vocal cords,” but the judge called this demand illegal.

In addition, there was no court secretary at the meeting, and no one kept minutes. To the request to keep at least some kind of record, Mezentseva replied that she found no grounds for this.

On December 26, the leader of the OPR, Andrei Bazhutin, was supposed to be released from a special detention center, where he was serving 15 days for driving a car without a license. However, the activist was not allowed to go outside, but was put in a police car and, accompanied by two traffic police vehicles, “taken somewhere.” Later it turned out that he was taken to the 76th police department, where a report was drawn up against Bazhutin under Part 2 of Art. 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses per share on April 15.

On the morning of December 27, the activist was brought from the department to the Smolninsky District Court, but Bazhutin disappeared there. The next day, bailiffs came to his home and “scared the children.” They claimed that the activist had left the special detention center and was hiding at home.

Bazhutin has been deprived of his rights “for political reasons” for more than six months, due to protests against the WHSD (Western High-Speed ​​Diameter - a toll highway in St. Petersburg).