A court in Vladivostok fined a participant in a rally in support of Sergei Furgal

In Vladivostok, judge of the Leninsky District Court Oksana Garbushina fined Anastasia Kapitonova, a participant in the rally and march on July 18 in support of the arrested ex-governor of the Khabarovsk Territory Sergei Furgal, 10 thousand rubles. Kapitonova herself reported this to OVD-Info.

The protest participant was found guilty of violating the rules of participation in a public event (Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code). The court decided that Kapitonova participated in the march and “did not react” to the police’s demand to stop participating in the rally.

The police believed that Kapitonova was the organizer of the procession. They drew up a protocol against the protest participant under the article on organizing an event without filing a notification (Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code). But the court did not agree with the police.

“The case materials do not contain, the protocol does not describe the specific actions of this person in preparing and holding a public event. <...> Considering the above, the judge comes to the conclusion that the actions of Kapitonova A.Yu. unreasonably qualified by an official under Part 2 of Art. 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences,” the judge wrote in the ruling on the case.

Judge Garbushina reclassified Kapitonova’s actions, deciding that she still violated the rules during the rally, but was only a participant, not an organizer.

“She was not the organizer of the rally; she learned about the action from social networks. I made the poster myself at home, and on the way to Central Square I bought millet for the pigeons,” the judge cites Kapitonova’s position on the case.

In Vladivostok, on July 18, an uncoordinated rally was held in support of the Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, Sergei Furgal. According to Interfax, the rally participants behaved calmly and stood with posters in support of residents of the neighboring region and the arrested governor. In addition, most of the protesters followed epidemiological recommendations: they wore medical masks. Because of the protest, the police detained three people, including Anastasia Kapitonova.

• Anastasia Kapitonova was also detained on July 26 in the wake of the “political subbotnik” in support of residents of the Khabarovsk Territory, which took place on July 25 in Vladivostok. She was also detained on July 18. Then she was detained along with her mother. The police eventually released Kapitonova, but her mother was fined 5 thousand rubles under the article on violating the rules of participation in the action (Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code).
• Since July 11, residents of the Khabarovsk Territory have been holding actions in support of Governor Sergei Furgal. The procession on July 11 through the streets of Khabarovsk to the building of the regional government, according to various estimates, gathered from 5 to 35 thousand people. The police did not interfere with the protesters, and there were no arrests.
• The then-current governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, Sergei Furgal, was detained on July 9 by FSB officers on suspicion of involvement in a number of contract killings. He was taken to Moscow, where, by decision of the Basmanny District Court of Moscow, he was placed in custody until September 9. On July 16, the Moscow City Court rejected the appeal of Furgal’s defense and recognized this decision as legal. On July 20, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Furgal’s resignation from the post of governor and appointed Furgal’s fellow party member in the LDPR, Mikhail Degtyarev, to this post as interim, Mediazona reported .