The court arrested three fellow Russians for displaying symbols of the banned NBP

Evgeny Nekrasov, Sergey Demidov and Stepan Yurchenko were brought to justice under Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

September 28, 2021 in Yekaterinburg, the Leninsky District Court under Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (propaganda or demonstration of symbols of extremist organizations) for 15 days arrested three members of the Other Russia E. V. Limonov - Yevgeny Nekrasov, Sergei Demidov and Stepan Yurchenko.

The reason for the administrative persecution of activists was the demonstration of armbands with the symbols of the unregistered party "The Other Russia of E. V. Limonov": "lemon" grenades and lightning bolts in a white circle on a red background.

The activists were detained on September 27 in the courthouse, where they came to consider the case of Kirill Imashev, a Russian friend who was prosecuted under Art. 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (disobedience to the lawful demand of the police) as a participant in the protest action of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation against electoral fraud, held on September 25, 2021.

On October 8, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court upheld the arrest orders. The courts referred to the conclusion of a specialist, according to which a similar combination of a grenade and lightning was on the seal of the banned National Bolshevik Party, and lightning is also the rune "zig" (the spelling of the court ruling is retained) and , therefore, is a Nazi symbolism in itself.

We consider the decision taken in 2007 to ban the NBP as an extremist organization unlawful. Accordingly, from our point of view, the persecution for displaying party symbols is also unlawful. In addition, the symbolism of "Another Russia by E. V. Limonov" differs from the well-known symbols of the NBP, and the law does not provide for punishment for demonstrating "elements" of prohibited symbols or "symbols similar to the symbols of an extremist organization." Finally, it does not seem reasonable to identify any image of lightning with the "zig" rune.

Sources

• Three National Bolsheviks from Yekaterinburg were arrested because of the party logo; the court found it similar to the symbols of the banned NBP // Mediazone. 2021. September 28.
• Case card No. 71-1007/2021 // Website of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court. 2021. October 13.
• Case card No. 71-1008/2021 // Website of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court. 2021. October 13.
• Case card No. 71-1006/2021 // Website of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court. 2021. October 13.