Translated material
The court upheld a fine for a protective mask with the inscription “Putin resign”
The Altai Regional Court upheld a fine of 10 thousand rubles to Maria Ponomarenko for wearing a protective mask with the inscription “Putin resign.” MBKh Media reports this, citing Public Verdict lawyer Ernest Mezak.
In September, the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Barnaul found Ponomarenko guilty under the article on organizing an unapproved rally (Part 1 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code). According to the police, who decided to draw up a report on the girl, she “organized, took part in and held a public event in the form of a single picket with means of visual propaganda, which was a red mask with the text “Putin resign” on it, thereby violated the procedure for holding a public event.”
The defense unsuccessfully appealed the district court's decision. “It’s not that we expect an acquittal, but we always want to believe that such an absurd resolution will be canceled. Naturally, we will continue to file a complaint with the European Court. In our opinion, for three reasons we can claim that the prosecution in this case was completely arbitrary,” Ernest Mezak commented on the results of the appeal.
On September 28, the same Railway Court fined Maria Ponomarenko 50 thousand rubles because of a video on TikTok entitled “Putin resign! Khabarovsk, I’m with you.” The activist was found guilty under the article of insulting a government official (Part 3 of Article 20.1 of the Administrative Code). According to the court, in the video Ponomarenko gave President Vladimir Putin a description that “offends human dignity and public morality.”
Since July 11, in the Khabarovsk Territory and other regions of the country, rallies have been held in support of the arrested ex-governor Sergei Furgal. Law enforcement officers detain protesters and initiate administrative cases against them not only in Khabarovsk , but also in other cities: Vladivostok , Komsomolsk-on-Amur , Yekaterinburg , Chelyabinsk , Voronezh , Sochi , Perm , Irkutsk , Novosibirsk .
- 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 .