The editor-in-chief of Mediazona was fined 15 thousand rubles for a picket in support of Ilya Azar

The editor-in-chief of Mediazona, Sergei Smirnov, was fined 15 thousand rubles for a single picket in support of journalist Ilya Azar. Smirnov wrote about this on Twitter.

He added that the judge refused to call the police officers with the same badges who detained him. Also, the judge did not watch the video of Smirnov’s arrest.

Sergei was found guilty under Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (violation of the legislation on rallies). His defense is appealing this decision, reports Apology of Protest.

Smirnov and Ekho Moskvy journalists Tatyana Felgenhauer and Alexander Plyushchev were detained on May 28 near the headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow. Smirnov stood with a poster: “Freedom for Ilya Azar,” Felgenhauer — “A single picket is not a crime,” and Plyushchev — “Azar stood here, bring it back.”

On that day, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow arrested Azar for 15 days, who on May 26 was detained at a single picket in support of the creator of the “Police Ombudsman” public page, Vladimir Vorontsov. The journalist was found guilty under Part 8 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (repeated violation of the legislation on rallies). Later, Azar’s sentence was reduced to 10 days of arrest; he was released from the special detention center on June 7.