Protocols under article on discrediting army drawn up against human rights defenders for pickets on Red Square

Today, human rights defender Oleg Orlov and Irina Galkova, a former employee of the “International Memorial”* (the International Historical, Educational, Charity and Human Rights Society “Memorial”) were detained on Red Square. In their hands, the human rights defenders were holding posters of pacifist content, criticizing the actions of the authorities, the Telegram channel “Polny PTs 2.0”, run by the team of the former Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Memorial”*, reports today.

Oleg Orlov and Irina Galkova were released from the Kitai-Gorod police department. Two protocols were drawn up against each of them, including on violation of the rules for participation in a public event (Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) and on discrediting the Russian army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), the “OVD-Info”** reports in its Telegram channel today.

It should be noted that on April 5, the First Court of Appeal in Moscow held a hearing on a complaint filed against the decision to liquidate the HRC “Memorial”*. The judge did not grant the request of the defence to suspend the liquidation process until the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) concerning the complaint against the law on foreign agents, and the First Court of Appeal upheld the decision to liquidate the HRC “Memorial”*.

* The organization was included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the register of NCOs, performing the functions of a foreign agent, and was liquidated by decision of the Moscow City Court.

** recognized as an unregistered association performing the functions of a foreign agent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 29, 2022 at 06:35 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.