The court in St. Petersburg overturned the ruling in the case of organizing a protest against amendments to the Constitution

The judge of the St. Petersburg City Court, Irina Kalinina, declared illegal the decision under the article on organizing an action without filing a notification (part 2 of article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) against Svetlana Sitnikova. This was reported by the lawyer from OVD-Info Anton Yupanov, who represented the interests of Sitnikova in court.

Kalinina returned the case for a new trial to the Oktyabrsky District Court. At the moment, it is not known why the court recognized the decision of the court of first instance as illegal: a reasoned decision has not yet been handed over to the defense.

On July 3, the Oktyabrsky District Court appointed Sitnikova 30 hours of compulsory work. The defense did not agree with this decision and appealed against it to the city court of St. Petersburg.

In the complaint, lawyer Yupanov, in particular, pointed out that there was no evidence that Sitnikova organized the event or directed it.

The lawyer also pointed out that in the protocol the police describe only the participation of his client in the action, but not its organization.

“Under the meaning of the law, the holding of a public mass event, in contrast to participation in it, involves the management of its course, and not just personal participation in its conduct. S. M. Sitnikova is not imputed to lead a public mass event - picketing, ”the lawyer writes in the complaint.

• Judge Irina Kalinina on the same day declared illegal the decision of the Oktyabrsky District Court on the arrest of Pavel Ivankin, an activist of Agit Rossii. also
• Svetlana Sitnikova, Vladimir Vasilenko and Alexander Nikitin were detained on July 2 because of a protest against amendments to the Constitution. Participants of the action were holding posters and lighted fireworks.
• On March 11, the State Duma approved the draft law on amendments to the Constitution, initiated by Vladimir Putin. The amendments were approved at the all-Russian vote, the main stage of which took place on July 1, 2020. According to the CEC, almost 78% of Russians supported the amendments to the Constitution. Sergey Shpilkin, a researcher of Russian election statistics, spoke to the independent media Proekt about possible fraud.