A picketer who spoke in support of Ilya Yashin was detained on Pushkin Square in Moscow

On Pushkin Square in Moscow, police detained picketer Nikolai Bannikov, who spoke out in support of political prisoner Ilya Yashin. His wife told OVD-Info about this.

Bannikov stood with a poster “Freedom for Yashin” at the monument to Alexander Pushkin.

19:20 Bannikov was released from the Tverskoy police station after a preventive conversation.

• This is not the first arrest of Nikolai Bannikov. In May and June , the man was detained during anti-war pickets. The first time the activist was released after a preventive conversation, the second time a report was drawn up against him to discredit the Russian army (Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code).
• Ilya Yashin is a municipal deputy of the Krasnoselsky district of Moscow. He is in a pre-trial detention center in the case of “fake news” about the Russian army (clause “e”, part 2, article 207.3 of the Criminal Code).
• On Pushkin Square, activists are regularly detained with pickets on various topics: against Putin , repression , for media freedom , demanding the release of political prisoners . Security forces also detain citizens for reading poetry . Most often, picketers are charged with “protesting” Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code.