Participants in pickets against pension reform were detained in Moscow

In Moscow, on Revolution Square, Daria Polyudova and Kirill Kotov were detained, who stood in single pickets with posters against pension reform and an increase in the VAT tax. Stanislav Dzichkovsky reported this to the OVD-Info hotline.

Dzichkovsky said that the detainees were being taken to the Kitay-Gorod police department.

Nikolay Players published a video of the activists’ detention on Facebook.

UPD 13:44 The surname of the OVD-Info interlocutor has been corrected in the text.

UPD 19:25 Dzichkovsky said that the detainees are left overnight in the department.

UPD July 23, 17:28 Nikolay Players told OVD-Info that Daria Polyudova was released from the police department with a report under Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (violation of the rules for holding an event by a participant). Kirill Kotov still remains in the department.

UPD July 23 20:01 Daria Polyudova told OVD-Info that she was also accused of disobeying the police (Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code). Kirill Kotov was accused of repeated violation of the rules of the event (Part 8 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences); he still remains in the police department.

UPD July 24 11:26 Daria Polyudova wrote that in addition to disobedience to the police, she was charged with violating the rules of the rally (Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code). According to the activist, at first a report was drawn up against her for repeated violation of the rules of the event, but the mayor’s office did not send the police confirmation that the single picket was not approved, so the administrative charge was reclassified.

• On October 20, 2017, Daria Polyudova was released after two years of imprisonment in a penal colony for publications on the social network VKontakte. The court considered them calls for extremism and separatism.
• Kirill Kotov is a Penza activist who was accused of public calls to overthrow the government (Article 280 of the Criminal Code) because of the poster. In June, he was arrested for 15 days because of a single picket - he stood with a poster “On Russia Day we demand freedom. There will be a revolution. FIFA World Cup - boycott."