In Kaliningrad, an activist accused of the “Dada” article sued the Ministry of Internal Affairs for 10 thousand rubles

The Central District Court of Kaliningrad awarded activist Evgenia Fedulova, accused of the “Dada” article, 10 thousand rubles in compensation for moral damage due to the initiation of an administrative case against her after a single picket. Fedulova herself reported this to the publication Sever.Realii.

“I didn’t have much hope for our Russian court; there was no hope for justice. She planned to file a claim with the European Court of Human Rights. But the Central District Court awarded me 10 thousand in damages. I consider this my small victory,” the activist said.

A single picket took place in the summer of 2019 in connection with the exclusion of opposition candidates from the elections to the Moscow City Duma. Fedulova was then charged with participating in a mass rally, but then the court dismissed the case due to the fact that the policewoman who acted as a witness confirmed that the picket was a solo one.

Now the activist is charged with repeated violation of the rules of participation in public events (Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code). The investigation decided to open a criminal case, since Fedulova had previously been brought to administrative responsibility three times for violating the law on rallies (Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code) and these decisions came into force.

In order for Fedulova to be cleared of the charges under the “Dada” article, she also filed a cassation appeal in two other administrative cases brought against her for going out on single pickets. “If the cassation court recognizes that the pickets were single, then these two administrative units will disappear. Then the ‘Dada’s’ article itself will fall apart,” she said. The criminal case includes Fedulova’s participation in the picket on August 15, 2020 in support of those accused in the BARS case (“Baltic Vanguard of Russian Resistance” - a group of Russian monarchists who were accused of intending to forcefully annex the Kaliningrad region to the European Union) and in the picket on August 22, 2020 in connection with the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. In both cases, Fedulova was assigned 20 hours of compulsory work.

• The activist was detained on August 19, and a few days later a trial was held to assign her a preventive measure. Despite the fact that the investigation asked to place the activist in custody, the judge refused to do so. At the moment, Fedulova has been ordered not to leave.
• Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code punishes for violating the procedure for holding public events if a person, at the time of initiation of the case, has several decisions that have entered into force under Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on relevant violations within six months. The first person convicted under Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code was activist Ildar Dadin; after his case, the Constitutional Court recommended that cases be initiated only if the actions of the alleged violator constituted a threat to society.