House arrest extended for environmental activist from northern Moscow

The Babushkinsky District Court of Moscow extended the house arrest of environmental activist Olga Kuzmina, accused of hooliganism, until February 9, 2022. This was reported by OVD-Info lawyer Katerina Tertukhina, who represents the interests of the defendant.

The activist is accused of hooliganism (Part 2 of Article 213 of the Criminal Code) due to the action she held on August 9. That day she climbed a tree demanding that construction on Yantarnaya Street be stopped. She had a crossbow with her, with which the woman wanted to protect herself in case they wanted to forcibly remove her from the tree. On August 11, a criminal case was opened against Kuzmina.

After the action, the activist was arrested for six days under the article on failure to comply with police demands (Part 1 of Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code). Security forces searched her home as part of a criminal case and took away all her equipment and electronic media. Later, Kuzmina was also fined three and a half thousand rubles, accusing her of breaking five tree branches.

The prosecution noted that the crossbow that the Muscovite had with her during the action was not a bladed weapon and could be used for sports and recreation. Earlier, lawyer Tatyana Solomina also emphasized that the crossbow was declared unsuitable for shooting due to a malfunction of the mechanism.

Olga Kuzmina has been under house arrest since August 17.