18th day of war and protests: arrests on March 13

On March 13, more than 850 participants in anti-war actions were detained in 37 Russian cities. Since the beginning of the war with Ukraine, the total number of people detained for disagreeing with Russian aggression is approaching 15,000. The security forces are no longer just sending people to paddy wagons for pickets, but are trying to identify "unreliable" among passers-by in places where anti-war protests were announced. Let's wrap up this Sunday.

Today, OVD-Info attorneys and lawyers helped detainees in police departments, we advised detainees in a bot and by phone, and also collected and published information about detentions and violations of the rights of protesters in different cities of Russia. All this was possible only thanks to you. Support our work with a donation in crypto !

Information about detainees

Detained: 864 people in 37 cities of Russia. Here is a list of detainees by region .

What are the detainees charged with: violation of the rules for participation in the action (part 5 of article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), repeated violation of the rules for participation in the action (part 8 of article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), organization of an uncoordinated action (part 2 of article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), organization of a simultaneous mass stay of citizens in public places, resulting in a violation of public order (Article 20.2.2. of the Code of Administrative Offenses), disobedience to the lawful demand of a police officer (Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), public actions aimed at "discrediting the Armed Forces" (Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code ), violation of epidemiological restrictions (Article 20.6.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).

What threatens them: under various parts of the administrative articles, detainees face fines from two thousand to 300 thousand rubles and arrest for up to 30 days. After the entry into force of a court decision on an offense under Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (public actions aimed at “discrediting the Armed Forces”), if a person again violates this article of the Code of Administrative Offenses within a year, a criminal case may be initiated.

Detentions of protesters

Moscow

Saint Petersburg

Saratov

Ekaterinburg

Syktyvkar

Yaroslavl

Cheboksary

Ivanovo

Izhevsk

Belgorod

Vladivostok

How arrests happen

• In Izhevsk, protesters were detained for "organizing a round dance."

• In Ufa, the police took the protesters to the nearby minibuses with their license plates taped or removed.

• Natalia Lauve, who was detained at a rally on March 6 in Moscow, told OVD-Info that the security forces came to her house - at that moment the girl was not at home, her mother opened the door. “They just started to break, woke up my mother. She said that I was not at home and that I didn’t go anywhere else [talking about other actions - OVD-Info ]. They threatened that if I went to the rally again, there would be a criminal case,” Lauve said.

• Vitaly Averin, an employee of the Golos movement, was detained right in the subway car at the Belorusskaya station.

• In Moscow, Nikita Maksimov was detained using a facial recognition system at the exit of the metro because of his participation in the anti-war rally on March 6.

• At least two cyclists were detained in the center of Moscow today. Bicycles were also brought into paddy wagons.

• In Moscow, after being detained on Manezhnaya Square, a man who went to an anti-war picket disappeared. This was reported to OVD-Info by his wife, who asked not to be named. According to the woman, the phone was taken away from the detainee and they write to her on his behalf. Calls are not answered however.

• In Moscow, activist Gleb Kondratyev's entrance was painted with the letters "Z" and a friend was beaten. about this He wrote on his Twitter. He told OVD-Info that the people who came to his friend showed their police identification cards, turned off the light in the apartment from the panel in the entrance. Once in the apartment, they smashed the equipment and beat the tenants. “My friend, the one who was standing in front, got hit right in the face, they threw him to the floor and beat him,” Kondratyev said. As a result, the young man was taken away by ambulance.

Violation of the rights of detainees

• Detentions are often carried out quite rudely: for example, detainees' arms are twisted. At the time of publication, we do not have exact data on all those beaten at the March 13 protests. Here is one of the (perhaps few) stories. Anastasia Kotlyar, Vladivostok: “They threw me into a strange bus, where they have a table in the middle of the bus. Some policemen left, some other one came in, called me a “bitch”, hit my head on the table, started to choke me. […] Some other police officers came up and he retreated. We were taken to the department."
• There are more and more reports that the police are demanding that random passers-by unlock their phones, show correspondence in instant messengers and saved photos. At the moment, this mainly concerns areas where, according to the security forces, anti-war actions are planned.
• There are a growing number of arrests for green ribbons (as a symbol of anti-war protest), flowers, badges, hats or other items of clothing that remind police officers of the Ukrainian yellow and blue flag.
• In many cases, they try to take phones from detainees in paddy wagons. In police departments, they are forced to take photographs and take fingerprints.

• There is the broadest possible interpretation by the security forces of any civil activity as anti-war. They can detain you for an empty poster, a poster with asterisks instead of letters, slogans like “I have the right to an opinion”, “Grandfather, take your pills.” The sticker on the car "No war in Ukraine" is considered a discredit of the Russian armed forces.

• People who are considered involved in anti-war protests are detained not only in places of possible actions.

• At the time of publication of the text, we do not have exact data on all the detained journalists. In St. Petersburg, nine journalists from various media were detained (later released) for filming detentions on Nevsky Prospekt. Kommersant editor Alexander Chernykh wrote on his Telegram channel that he was hit twice by a policeman on Manezhnaya Square in Moscow.