Pepper cylinder and Almighty witness: how law enforcement officers prevent themselves from photographing themselves

The legislation does not prohibit photo and video shooting of bailiffs, police officers or employees of the Russian Guard- rather, on the contrary, citizens have the right to record their actions. This does not prevent law enforcement officers from detaining and beaten those who photograph, threaten them or call for interrogations. OVD-Info collected the most striking of the similar cases we know.

Instagram storis with a police officer

In the Altai Territory, a 16-year-old activist of the Protest Biysk, Maxim Neverov, published Storis on Instagram (photo or video publication, which automatically deleted after 24 hours), the main character of which was the policeman. In the video, the schoolboy asked the police officer to give an elderly woman a place in public transport. For this, according to Neverov, he was summoned for interrogation to the Investigative Committee. The investigator told the student that the policeman wrote a statement and "gave a tip on the video."

Photo of trench

The activist of the “unlimited protest” and the administrator of the telegram channel “protest Moscow State University” Dmitry Ivanov tried to take a picture of the employee of the Center for “E” Alexei Obnoy during the popular gathering against the war and the violence of the security forces on December 16. The activist was detained for this. In Avtosak, Ivanov searched several times, and then they were produced and divided. The trench threatened the young man with rape. “Do you have gondons? - asked the trench from the cop with a shocker. - Pull on the baton, develop him there. Or do you already have? " -told the OVD-Info activist. Then Ivanov was beaten and broke the phone.

Pepper cylinder and hospitalization

Shakhnaz Shitik photographed an employee of the Russian Guard during the “Against Pension robbery” campaign on September 16. For this, OMON employees tried to detain it, but other participants in the rally managed to interfere with them. At the same time, the woman was sprayed in the face of a pepper cylinder and stepped on her chest. Shitik was taken to the Mariinsky hospital, where the police tried to detain her again. Law enforcement officers were on duty near the chamber of the activist and did not respond to the requests of the doctors to retire. When Shitik went out into the street, she was nevertheless detained and put him in a police car by force, after which the woman again had to be hospitalized.

The Almighty witness

Marat Ismailov was detained before the rally began against the changes of the Caspian General Plan and held in the police department throughout the event. On the way to the Ismailov department, he photographed a policeman, fearing a provocation on his part. The law enforcement officer did not like this, and he began to threaten the detainee. “One of the employees literally stated:“ Have you heard me? I tell you, do not give Allah, the Almighty witness, if my photograph crawls out somewhere <...> I will put you in this city. I tell you again, I will blind you in this city, you will go to me dumb and deaf, ”the activist told the draft. Ismailov appealed to the USB of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a statement on threats to causing grievous bodily harm from the police officer (part 1 of article 119 of the Criminal Code).

Auto -zak and bailiff

Ernest Mesak, lawyer of the Public Verdict Foundation, flew from Syktyvkar to Komsomolsk-on-Amur to defend Dmitry Reznichenko in court. In front of the court, Mesak tried to photograph a car zak, but the bailiff began to prevent the shooting, grab men with his hands and swear. Then Reznichenko began to take off the actions of the bailiff on the camera. After that, the men took the court’s office premises and kept there for more than six hours. They made protocols under Articles 17.3 (non -fulfillment of the order of a judge or bailiff) and 17.8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (obstruction of the legal activity of an official). The court session, at which Mesak flew through the whole country, was without his participation.

Man in civilian

Activists of the Left Bloc Victoria Arefieva, Fedor Shutkin and Alexander Maksimov walked around St. Petersburg when a police car drove up to them. Law enforcement officers informed young people that they had a call that "two guys and a girl want to arrange an unauthorized action." Then a man in civilian clothes, who introduced himself as an employee of the Investigative Committee, approached the activists. He refused to name the surname and present the documents, citing a certain “point nine”, forbidding him to disclose his data. Activists photographed the unknown, in response to this, he tried to detain them. At the same time, the man grabbed young people by the hands and threatened to "fundamentally take it to the UK and close." The unknown person kept the activists until they managed to agree on the removal of photographs.

PPP violation and stack of orientations

On a single voting day on September 9, a public figure from Yekaterinburg Vyacheslav Bashkov photographed two policemen, who, according to him, violated the charter of the PPS during the vote. It turned out that these were employees of the criminal investigation department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Yekaterinburg. One of them began to threaten Bashkov by detention, if he does not present documents. The basis of the policeman called a stack of orientations on his table. “We agreed that I will show a passport in the lobby of the school, where the passing (and video surveillance). I don’t know if I’ll get home now, ”Bashkov said 7 × 7 to the publication.