Press Release, 19.02.2024

Photo: The Tipografia culture centre / Photo from open sources

The Tula regional branch of the Yabloko party issued an open appeal to the regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Public Prosecutor’s Office with a demand to check the actions of police who stormed into the Tipografia culture centre past weekend.

On the night of 17-18 February, police and masked men burst into the Tipografia culture centre in Tula, where a night party was taking place. Video footage of ill-treatment of event participants emerged online. According to OVD-Info independent human rights project, the police forced the party participants to lie face down on the floor. Those present at the event were photographed, beaten, and threatened with being forcefully sent to the “special military operation”. Several people were forced to do squats, one was forced to sing the Tula anthem. The police detained several people and took them to the police station. One of the detainees told OVD-Info that protocols were drawn up against him and other participants in the event for “LGBT propaganda”.

Activists of the Tula branch of Yabloko are indignant: kicking a lying person in the face is a criminal method of “fighting for morality”.

The way the authorities implement their policies must be based on laws, dialogue and respect for human dignity. Forceful suppression and violence against one’s own citizens and humiliation of their human dignity are unacceptable.

“We demand that the actions of the police be checked for abuse of power,” an open statement from the Tula Yabloko runs.