A participant in the campaign of the FBK director left Russia. He was threatened with criminal charges

Evgeny Chupov, founder and coordinator of several regional movements in Moscow, as well as a participant in the campaign of FBK director Ivan Zhdanov, left Russia and requested political asylum in Bulgaria. Chupov himself spoke about this on Facebook.

Evgeny Chupov writes that he decided to leave Russia after two arrests during the campaign before the Moscow City Duma elections - May 22 and 28 , 2019.

The first time, the police released the activist without drawing up a report, and the second time they took him to the police department in the Voikovsky district, beat him and threatened him with criminal charges under the article on damage to someone else’s property (Article 167 of the Criminal Code), and also confiscated a mobile phone and a portable camera.

Evgeny Chupov recalls that on May 28, the police actions were supervised by employees of the district Center for Countering Extremism. The detention was explained by the fact that Chupov allegedly damaged the wheels of a certain car, while neither the car itself, nor the damaged wheels, nor the victim were shown to him. Lawyer Vladimir Voronin was not allowed to see the activist for a long time. In the evening, Chupov was released as a suspect in a criminal case of damage to property. He filed complaints against the actions of the security forces and a few days later he and his family went on vacation to Bulgaria.

Already on vacation, Evgeniy Chupov received answers to the complaints. The prosecutor's office found no violations in the actions of the police, and by that time the investigation had already received permission to search Chupov's apartment. He did not return to Russia and requested political asylum in Bulgaria.

• Evgeny Chupov and four other participants in Ivan Zhdanov’s campaign were detained on May 22, 2019 during their meeting in the park. They were released without reports. Two days later, police detained the head of Zhdanov’s campaign headquarters, Boris Zolotarevsky. He was also soon released without charges.
• Then Evgeny Chupov was detained on the morning of May 28 in the Voikovsky district of Moscow; he soon disappeared from contact. Chupov’s friend managed to find out that the activist was being held at the Voikovsky police department. He was released only in the evening - as a suspect in a criminal case.