A protest participant was arrested for a week in Khabarovsk

The Central District Court of Khabarovsk arrested Elena Donda, a participant in protests in support of ex-governor Sergei Furgal, for seven days. This was reported by the coordinator of legal assistance at OVD-Info, Alla Frolova.

Elena Donda was found guilty of participating in an event that interfered with the work of infrastructure and transport (Part 6.1 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) for the action on December 5. She was detained on her way home on December 11. The activist was defended by OVD-Info lawyer Mikhail Dudkin.

• Elena Donda has already been detained due to her participation in protests. On October 27, she was left overnight in a special detention center, and the next day after the trial she was detained again to draw up a report.
• 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. Until approximately July 18, the Khabarovsk police made almost no attempt to interfere with the protesters, but later law enforcement officers began to detain the protesters. In the overwhelming majority of cases, they were detained after the protests, including on other days, right at home or at work, after which they were taken to police departments and courts, where they were fined or arrested. After the dispersal of the rally on October 10 in Khabarovsk, criminal cases were opened against several people: three under the article on the use of violence against a government official (Part 1 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code) and one under the “Dada” article on repeated violations of the procedure for holding public events (Article 212.1 UK).
• On July 9, the then-current governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, Sergei Furgal, was detained by FSB officers on suspicion of involvement in a number of contract killings. He was taken to Moscow, where he was placed in custody. On July 20, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Furgal’s resignation from the post of governor and appointed Furgal’s LDPR party member Mikhail Degtyarev to this post as acting. In November, Furgal’s arrest was extended until March 2021, the meeting was held behind closed doors.