News digest for August 2

The first verdict in a “sanitary case”, removal from the elections due to legal assistance to protesters and a fine for a journalist for working on an assignment. We talk about the main news on August 2.

• A court in Moscow sentenced Dani Akel, a defendant in a “sanitary case” who was charged with violating sanitary and epidemiological rules, to a fine of 100 thousand rubles. According to investigators, Akel went to a rally in support of Alexei Navalny on January 23, knowing that he was sick with Covid. The interests of the convict were represented by lawyer from OVD-Info Mikhail Biryukov.
• The editor-in-chief of BlogSochi, Alexander Valov, sentenced to six years in an extortion case, confirmed to his lawyer the information about the torture conditions in the colony. The blogger said that he was placed in solitary confinement, a punishment cell and a cell with strict conditions of detention. FSIN employees, according to Valov, threaten him with physical harm.
• The court recognized the search in the St. Petersburg State University dormitory room where SOTA journalist Nika Samusik lives as legal. The girl is a suspect in a hooliganism case brought against actionist Pavel Krisevich, whose performance the journalist filmed. Samusik’s interests are represented by lawyer Katerina Tertukhina, who collaborates with OVD-Info.
• Human rights activist from Cherepovets Grigory Winter had his restriction of freedom replaced by mandatory work in criminal cases of fake news and insulting a government official. The first case was opened because of a post about the work of the Federal Penitentiary Service, the second because of a statement allegedly made by Winter during a search of his home. In connection with the accusations, the human rights activist was kept in a pre-trial detention center for a month; he reported torture.
• The Berdsk Election Commission refused to register four independent candidates for the city Duma elections. The Election Commission referred to letters from the Ministry of Justice, which stated that the oppositionists were connected with Navalny’s projects. Thus, lawyer Olga Nechaeva, who collaborates with OVD-Info, was called involved in an “extremist organization” because of her legal assistance to those detained at protests, and another candidate, Vyacheslav Yakimenko, because of a post about the action on January 23.
• The FSB in the Amur region brought charges against local residents Kristina Golik and Maria Portnyagina. The women were charged with participating in the activities of an extremist organization due to meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses.
• In Cheboksary, a court fined journalist Daria Komarova 10 thousand rubles for attending a meeting with the coordinator of Navalny’s local headquarters in August 2020. The activist at that time was a candidate for the city assembly of deputies, and Komarova had the task of covering the meeting.
• In Yekaterinburg, model Elena Nikiforovskaya was arrested for three days because of a photo with bare buttocks in front of a police department. During filming, she wore a jacket similar to a police uniform, but instead of “police” there was the words “provocation” on the back. Previously, the photographer who photographed Nikiforovskaya was placed under administrative arrest.
• Police officers of the Moscow Losinoostrovsky police department stopped proceedings in the case of a participant in the “Freedom for Navalny!” action. April 21 Elena Kalistratova. The interests of the protestor were represented by lawyer Oksana Borodina, who collaborates with OVD-Info. The defense attorney managed to convince the security forces to close the case due to its insignificance.