Taganrog activists to challenge fines for participation in protest action

In Taganrog, a court recognized five local residents as violators of the procedure for holding a public event on January 31 and imposed fines on them. The activists refused to plead guilty and decided to find money to hire an advocate to appeal against the court's decisions on fines.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 31, in the Rostov Region, like in other Russian regions, protest actions were held in support of Alexei Navalny.

On February 1, the Taganrog City Court found five local residents guilty under Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (violation of the established procedure of holding a public event by its participant) and find each of them 10,000 roubles, a court officer informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Today, Mikhail Georgi, one of the detainees, has explained to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the reason for the detention was the gathering of the activists "in the wrong place for which no approval had been issued." However, according to Mikhail Georgi, no violation took place. "Firstly, according to the public map of the Taganrog cadastre, the location of our gathering corresponded to the geographical boundaries mentioned in the wording of the approval. Secondly, after an urgent request [of a police officer], we moved to the place which he indicated as the correct location," Mikhail Georgi said.

According to him, all five detainees found money to pay the fines. "We are now raising funds to hire an advocate to file an appeal to the Regional Court. There are five of us, and we are determined to go to the end," the protestor noted.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 3, 2021 at 12:21 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.