Putin will ask the Prosecutor General to check the arrest of human rights activist Ponomarev for a post about the action “For your and our children”

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to ask Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika to check the decision to arrest 77-year-old human rights activist Lev Ponomarev for 16 days for a post about the action “For your and our children” in support of those accused in the “New Greatness” case and the “Penza case.” Putin said this at a meeting with the new composition of the Human Rights Council, which was broadcast by RIA Novosti.

“It is impossible to question the fairness of the decision regarding Ponomarev. I assumed that the topic would come up at the Council. But what did I see from the certificate that I read? It was about calls for unauthorized rallies. But we don’t want to have a situation similar to Paris,” Putin added, answering a question from journalist Nikolai Svanidze.

The latter also told the president that those accused in the “New Greatness” case and the “Penza case” were subjected to torture. To this, the president replied that this situation needs to be dealt with.

The head of the council, Mikhail Fedotov, additionally asked the president to check the information about torture and described the cases that the victims spoke about - in particular, they mentioned a minibus in which electric shock was used on them. “I completely agree with you and need to check it out. The only thing that comes to mind is that FSB officers do not work on these buses. They are simply not there,” the president said. “This seriously worries me, this is unacceptable.”

Nikolai Svanidze then added that there was a provocation in the “New Greatness” case. “You are talking about some kind of Gaponism. “I’ll take a look,” Putin replied.

In the “Penza case”, anti-fascists and anarchists were arrested, who were united by a passion for airsoft - the FSB claims that they were members of the underground organization “Network” and intended to “sway the masses” during the presidential elections and the World Cup with the help of explosions. Viktor Filinkov , Dmitry Pchelintsev , Ilya Shakursky and Arman Sagynbaev spoke in detail about torture during the investigation. also spoke about interrogation using a stun gun . Ilya Kapustin , who left for Finland after he was released as a witness,

The “New Greatness” movement grew out of a telegram chat created after the failed “revolution” of nationalist Vyacheslav Maltsev on November 5, 2017. The young people managed to hold several meetings and go on practical training sessions on the use of Molotov cocktails and shooting, and were detained a few days before the presidential elections in March. They were accused of creating an extremist community and participating in it. One of the leading roles in “New Greatness” was occupied by an informant for the security forces, who wrote the organization’s charter.