In Gatchina, an activist was not allowed to discuss the annual report of local deputies

In Gatchina (Leningrad region), on February 28, Anton Grachev, a volunteer from the local headquarters of Alexei Navalny's supporters, was not allowed to attend an open session of local deputies, during which it was planned to discuss the final report of the Gatchina city administration for 2017. The arriving police detained Grachev, and then drew up a report on alleged hooliganism. This was announced by Anton Grachev to OVD-Info.

“The meeting was attended by the head of the urban settlement Filonenko, a member of the United Russia party, we are familiar with him. It was Filonenko who tried to kick me out, saying that a preliminary application was needed to attend the meeting, ”said Anton Grachev.

After the activist refused to leave the hall, the police arrived. The employees asked to see the documents, which Grachev refused to do, because, in his opinion, there were no legitimate reasons for this requirement.

The police decided to use force to deliver Grachev to the police department for investigation, on foot. They refused to state the reason for the arrest.

“On the way, a police officer named Kovyazin tried to take my phone away from me, demanded to stop calling when I was giving information to a friend about my detention. The officers who detained me did not participate in the preparation of the protocol in any way. Judging by the exclamations that reached me in the department, everyone was trying to get rid of the prospect of drawing up my protocol, ”says Grachev.

The activist spent about three hours in the police, a protocol on petty hooliganism was drawn up against him (Part 1 of Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), he allegedly waved his arms and shouted.

“Three hours later, my cell was opened and things were given out, I checked the presence of things, signed and left. Colleagues also met me on the street. In the office, I wanted to play an audio recording of the moment of detention from a voice recorder. When I turned on the power, the indicator showed 0 records on the media. I decided to check also the video camera, which also lay in my things while I was locked up. All videos were also deleted from it.

Later at home, I checked with the direct disk reading program that the information was not deleted manually, but by special means (all memory cells are filled with the “FF” code).”