A court in Moscow fined seven more people detained during the protest against amendments to the Constitution on July 15

The Ostankinsky District Court of Moscow fined seven detainees during the collection of signatures and a procession against amendments to the Constitution, which took place on July 15 in the city center. This is reported by lawyers from OVD-Info Olga Karlova and Maxim Pashkov, who defended the detainees.

According to Karlova, Judge Olesya Sushkova fined five of her clients 20,000 rubles each under the article on participation in a public event that interfered with traffic and pedestrians (part 6.1, article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). The names of those detained at the action are not published at their request.

The lawyer added that the judge did not take into account a number of arguments and evidence of the defense, considering them irrelevant.

Thus, the court refused to study the video, confirming that one of Karlova's clients did not participate in the action. She just stood on the opposite side of the street and videotaped what was happening on her phone.

The judge also did not take into account the testimony of a defense witness in the case of another defendant, Karlova. In addition, the court recognized as legal the changes that the police made to the protocols without notifying the detainees at the rally.

Initially, the police sent a notice to the detainees about drawing up a protocol under the article on violation of the rules of conduct during the high alert regime introduced (part 1 of article 20.6.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), but later the article was changed.

“We are given a notice for one article, and then it turns out to be completely different in the decision to bring to administrative responsibility. She (Judge Sushkova - OVD-Info ) says: “It doesn’t matter,” Olga Karlova said.

The lawyer pointed out at the court session that the policemen in the protocols simply wrote the figures of another article over the figures of one article. The judge said it was a question for the police, not for her. At the same time, the police officers were not summoned to the court session.

The same judge fined Alexander Podorin and Alexei Chepurny for 20 thousand rubles. In court, they were defended by a lawyer from OVD-Info Maxim Pashkov.

• On July 15, 2020, actions were planned in a number of cities against the amendments to the Constitution, which entered into force on July 4 and allow Vladimir Putin to re-claim the presidency in 2024. The local authorities refused to approve the actions. In Moscow, the action first took place in the format of collecting signatures, after which the procession began. According to OVD-Info, a total of 147 people were detained. OVD-Info published lists of detainees.
• According to the CEC, almost 78% of Russians supported the amendments to the Constitution. The amendments were approved at a nationwide vote, the main stage of which took place on July 1. Sergey Shpilkin, a researcher of Russian election statistics, told the independent media outlet Proekt about possible fraud during the voting.