Six activists were detained on Shies

Activist Anna Shekalova and five other people who were in the camp opposing the construction of a landfill were detained on Shies. Shekalova managed to report this herself in the activist community “News from Shies”.

According to the community, until today there were five people in the activist camp - four men and one woman. On the night of February 18, contact with them was lost, and other activists reported seeing police cars heading towards the camp. Activist Anna Shekalova went to the camp to clarify the situation.

According to the community, before Shekalova’s arrival, five activists who were in the camp were detained . After this, Shekalova herself announced her arrest. All of them, according to activists, are being taken to Yarensk.

Shekalova added that, according to the police officers detaining her, a post of an activist camp called “Banya” burned down.

17:58 Activists are being interrogated in the case of illegal logging: two as suspects (their names are not named), four more as witnesses. So far, only one activist, Olga Barsova, has been released from the Yarensky police department, who was previously interrogated as a witness in a criminal case. This was reported by the “News from Shies” community. Environmental activist Dmitry Sekushin clarified “North-West. MBH Media” that interrogations are taking place in the case of logging at Shies. Sekushin added that three statements were written against Anna Shekalova, but he did not know their contents.

22:30 All five activists who were detained in the camp were released from the Yarensk police department. Due to a surge in blood pressure, Anna Shekalova was taken to the intensive care unit at a local hospital. All posts in the activist camp were destroyed - “Fortress”, “Bathhouse”, “Bonfire”, Vesti Shies reports .

• Anna Shekalova was already detained at Shies. In 2019, Shekalova was sentenced to two administrative arrests in a row; in particular, she was charged with organizing a mass simultaneous presence of citizens near a dangerous facility, which resulted in obstacles to the operation of construction equipment (Part 3 of Article 20.2.2 of the Administrative Code).
• At Shies station it was planned to build a landfill for the import of waste from Moscow. Local residents and activists are protesting against the construction. Since 2018, they have been on duty at the construction site, blocking roads to the station, they are regularly detained, and administrative and criminal cases are brought against them.
• In 2020, the new governor of the Arkhangelsk region, Alexander Tsybulsky, spoke out against the construction of the landfill. After this, the regional government terminated the agreement with the Technopark LLC company, which was involved in the construction of the landfill, and the Arkhangelsk Arbitration Court recognized the erected buildings as unauthorized and ordered the company to demolish them.