23:56, 27 November 2018

A picket in support of Ingush people ends with detention of two Petersburg residents

A picket in support of the Ingush people ended with detention of two Petersburg residents. Photo by Dinar Idrisov for the "Caucasian Knot"

Law enforcers detained for several hours activist Olga Smirnova, who was holding a picket near the building of the Constitutional Court of Russia to support opponents of the agreement on the Chechen-Ingush border. Ilya Tkachenko, who was filming the picket, was also detained.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 26, at least nine Saint Petersburg activists, including Ilya Tkachenko and Olga Smirnova, were detained while holding solo pickets on the eve of a session of the Constitutional Court of Russia.

Today, the session of the Constitutional Court of Russia to assess how much the agreement on the Chechen-Ingush border complies with the Constitution has taken place. The opponents of the border agreement are holding a rally in Nazran today. Apart from the abolition of the agreement, protestors have demanded the resignation of Ingush leader Yunus-Bek Evkurov and the dissolution of the republic's parliament.

Rights defender Dinar Idrisov noted that about ten law enforcers were involved in detention of the activists.

According to Olga Smirnova, she has already been released. Ilya Tkachenko was detained for crossing the street in the wrong place, and he was also released from a police station.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 27, 2018 at 06:34 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Gor Alexanyan

Source: CK correspondent