A court in St. Petersburg dismissed the case for using a megaphone at a picket in memory of Boris Nemtsov

The Petrogradsky District Court of St. Petersburg dismissed the case on violation of the procedure for holding a public event (part 5 of article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) against Pavel Chuprunov due to the use of a megaphone at a picket in memory of Boris Nemtsov. This is reported by the "Apology of Protest".

The interests of the participant of the action were represented by the lawyer of "Apology" Alexander Peredruk. What the court motivated its decision is unknown.

On February 28, 2020, Pavel Chuprunov participated in a rally in memory of politician Boris Nemtsov, who was killed in 2015. Three months later, the police filed a protocol against Chuprunov under the fifth part of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, the court fined him 10,000 rubles.

On November 24, the City Court of St. Petersburg overturned the decision of the court of first instance. Lawyer Alexander Peredruk then noted that no one asked Chuprunov to stop using a megaphone during his speech. In the protocol, the police officers wrote the opposite, but could not provide evidence. In addition, despite the fact that it was written in the protocol that Chuprunov could violate public order with his speech, no one provided the court with real facts of violation.

• On February 29, rallies in memory of Boris Nemtsov were held in 31 Russian cities, during which were detained 13 people . In St. Petersburg, a picket was agreed with the participation of 200 people. During the procession to the place of the action, which was attended by about 1500 people, the police detained eight people. The security forces explained their actions either by a complaint about an offense, without specifying the details, or by the inconsistency of the poster with the theme of the event.