Picketers with posters in support of political prisoners and against torture were detained in Moscow

In Moscow, Alexander Bykov and Evgeny Mashinin, who were holding single pickets on Pushkinskaya Square, were detained near the State Duma building. The activists themselves reported this to OVD-Info.

Mashinin came out with a poster “Torture is a shame,” and Bykov’s poster read “Freedom for political prisoners.” Both picketers were taken to the Tverskoy district police department, and a lawyer from OVD-Info, Yulia Tregubova, came to see them.

The police are going to conduct a preventive conversation with the detainees. It is unclear what was the reason for the arrest.

19:13 Alexander Bykov and Evgeny Mashinin were released from the police department without reports, lawyer Yulia Tregubova reports.

The news has been corrected. Earlier it was reported that Mashinin and Bykov were detained on Pushkinskaya Square, where they were holding pickets.

• On the same day, October 17, Mikhail Timonin was detained in Moscow, who came out with a poster “Russia without Putin and his friends” on Red Square. A lawyer from OVD-Info, Sergei Telnov, visited his department. Timonin was charged with an “arrest” charge of disobedience to police officers and was left overnight.
• In Irkutsk, Yevgeny Butorin went out to a single picket on October 17, his poster read: “Freedom for political prisoners! Russia without Putin! Bring back elections! Crooks! You yourselves are foreign agents!” The police detained him, took him to the department and released him two hours later without drawing up a report.