Human rights activist Alla Frolova: "People in autozaks are ordinary participants in peaceful walks"

What caught my eye compared to past shares?

On Saturday, the authorities widely used more modern autozaks, earlier we came across them only on promotions in 2017. These auto -zaks are two -section, that is, detainees who are in different sections do not know about each other's existence. This circumstance additionally makes our work difficult - we do not immediately understand how many detainees are in the same autosak and where they are being taken. The clarification takes extra time and forces, which these days are extremely few.

Was:

It became:

In two autozaks, phones were immediately taken away. Later it turned out that one [Avtosak] went to the Kotlovka police department, the other to the Sokolinn Mountain.

It is not clear to us how OMON employees argued the selection of phones. They were selected in autozaks before arriving in the police department. Employees of the Investigative Committee came to Kotlovka later. We do not yet understand whether their arrival is connected with the selected phones, or is it just a coincidence. But we know for sure that the people who got into these auto -zats are ordinary participants in peaceful walks. Therefore, we cannot talk about some special police selectivity during their detention.

What to do if you select the phone?

In a situation where the practice of power structures is repeated, it would probably be wiser to abandon the use of smartphones and devices that may contain personal information during public events where detention is likely. Unfortunately, we have repeatedly encountered situations when police officers and investigators carefully studied the contents of the phones, which, in addition to a banal violation of personal space, can be fraught with unreasonable persecutions.

How many detainees left at night in the departments?

At least five people. And these are only “repeators” - those who have already been detained over the past six months, that is, in fact since the beginning of summer. They have all part 8 of article 20.2 (re -violation of the procedure for a public event).

What is known about detention in other cities?

A strong group of assistance to detainees is working in St. Petersburg, they also cope in Rostov-on-Don themselves. We advise and support both cities remotely. We also recommended lawyers in Bryansk, in Syktyvkar the detainees were released without drawing up protocols.

How did the legal service of the OTD-INFO work on Saturday shares on Saturday?

In 19 police departments, the detainees were helped by 11 of our lawyers and one defender, as well as seven lawyers from the Apology of Protest.

The help of lawyers detained in the police department is a very important part of our work. When ordinary people randomly pull out from the crowd on peaceful walks, people are usually lost and do not always know how to behave in the police department. Yes, we specially distribute instructions before shares, but for the first detentions it is always a shock when you are wringing your hands and stuffed you on a bus with lattices on the windows.

A person, of course, is lost, it is easy to use this when drawing up a protocol. Here, our lawyers help with extensive experience in “protest articles”. They come, calm down, give clear instructions on how to answer questions, what can be signed, and where the signature is definitely not worth it.

Lawyers, too, of course, are hard, get tired. You just imagine this almost monthly marathon: detention, courts, appeals, and so in a circle and with several detainees in parallel. It’s hard for us - it’s hard for the people who help. But in general, we can say that we coped.