A protest participant was detained in St. Petersburg

In St. Petersburg, police detained protest participant Evgeny Lobanov. His friend Pavel, who was present at the arrest, spoke about this.

The activist is in police department No. 17. Two protocols are drawn up against him for participation in an unapproved public event (Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code) for actions on August 8 and 15 in support of the Khabarovsk Territory.

As Pavel said, Lobanov was detained on Grazhdansky Avenue. The officers were unable to give reasons for the detention and ultimately referred to the complaint received in the Incident Reporting Book (KUSP).

When the activist was delivered, the officers began to draw up a protocol under Article 19.15 of the Code of Administrative Offences—residence of a citizen of the Russian Federation without an identification document of the citizen. Pavel believes that this is due to the fact that his friend did not show his passport to the officers when he was detained. Lobanov has all the necessary documents, but they are at home.

In the process of drawing up a protocol, the police suddenly began asking questions about participation in protests, after which they switched to protocols about participation in uncoordinated events. As Pavel says, employees of Center “E” are threatening Lobanov with the “Dadin article” (Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code) if he appears at a protest again.

21:00 Lobanov was released from the police department with a report under Article 19.15 of the Administrative Code. In the end, the article about participation in uncoordinated actions was not imputed. His interests were represented by lawyer from OVD-Info Igor Skachko.

Before his lawyer, employees of Center “E” allegedly communicated with Lobanov. The detainee told OVD-Info the details of this conversation:

“They cursed at me in every possible way. They asked about biographical facts, where I work. They offered to provide me with work. They said: “If you go out again, we’ll give you such problems, you’ll go nuts.” We’ll sell you any article.” They wanted to hear that I would not take part in any more protests. I said I didn't mean to. “What did you do there [at past rallies]?” they ask. “I fed the pigeons,” says the activist.

Finally, the employees said that if the activist told the media about what happened, he would also start to have problems.

• Since July 11, residents of the Khabarovsk Territory have been holding actions in support of ex-governor Sergei Furgal. On Saturday, July 25, the procession in Khabarovsk gathered, according to various estimates, from 20 to 90 thousand participants. In other regions, rallies are also held in support of the Khabarovsk Territory, often under the slogan “Feed the pigeons!”
• 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 .