Press Release, 16.01.2020

The Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan (Tatarstan) sentenced the participants of the movement against the construction of a waste incineration plant near Osinovo to arrest and fines. Yelena Izotova, one of the leaders of the movement and Chair of Yabloko’s Green Russia faction in Tatarstan, was arrested for five days for participating in a series of one-person pickets (that do not require any permission from the authorities). During the action, Izotova demanded resignation of Artyom Khokhorin, Minister of Internal Affairs of Tatarstan, for breaking up (in late December 2019) of the tent camp of opponents of the construction of the waste incineration plant. Three more activists ended up in court after they came to the police department to support Elena Izotova. One of them was sentenced to a ten days arrrest, the other were sentenced to fines and compulsory community service.

The court sentenced Vera Kerpel, Deputy Chair of Yabloko’s Green Russia faction in Tatarstan, to 30 hours of compulsory community service, eco-activist Anatoly Malov received 10 days of administrative arrest, another activist who came to support Izotova in the police department was fined 1,000 roubles.

Yelena Izotova was detained by the officers of the interior Department for Countering Extremism near the Kazan shopping centre Koltso on January 14 at 15.40. She was taken to the police department, from which she was released only at about ten o’clock in the evening; a protocol was drawn up on a violation under  Article 20.2 Part 2 of the Administrative Code. Three activists – Vera Kerpel, Irina Nikiforova and Anatoly Malov, who were detained for just coming to the police department to support Yelena Izotova, were released at about five o’clock in the morning the next day. They were charged with administrative offenses in accordance with Article 20.2 Part 2 of the Administrative Code and Article 19.3 Part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, respectively. All the activists were ordered to appear in court.

The Tatarstan branch of Yabloko launched a series of one person pickets against General Khokhorin, Internal Minister of Tatarstan, at the end of December 2019 after dispersal of the camp of environmental activists by the police and the exercises of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to disperse rallies, when schoolchildren were forced to perform protesters.

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