Search
In Yekaterinburg, a major city in the Urals, police detained activist Dmitry Novikov, who was holding a solo picket at 1905 Square in support of political prisoners. This was reported by his OVD-Info defence representative, Artem Shulman.
In 2024, Novikov has been detained five times due to solo pickets. In May, he held a picket with a poster displaying the definition of fascism from Ozhegov’s explanatory dictionary. Novikov was detained and taken to Police Department No. 5. According to him, officers checked his Telegram subscriptions on his phone and “tried to threaten [him] with administrative charges, arrest, and justifying fascism, since the poster featured the word fascism and people would be able to see it.” In the end he was released without a written charge.
In November, Novikov was detained over a protest with a poster saying: “Over 1,000 days—over 100,000 deaths.” That time, he was charged under the article on “discrediting the army” (Art. 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code).
A few days later, the activist was detained again while standing at the same square with a poster featuring photographs of Ukrainian cities destroyed by the war and the caption “over 1,000 days.” This detention also resulted in a protocol for “discrediting the army.”
Three days later, Novikov was taken to the police department over a picket with a poster reading, “Where do taxes go?” and information about budget spending on defence. After this picket, he was released without charge.
Another three days later, the Yekaterinburg resident was detained for a demonstration featuring photos of three mobilised soldiers from the Urals who had died. As a result, he received another charge for “discrediting the army.”
On the basis of the three charges, he was fined in total 120,000 rubles (approximately US$1,350).
20:39 Activist Dmitry Novikov has been released from Police Department No. 9 without charge, he himself told OVD-Info.
Novikov reported that one of the police officers called him a “pidor” (a homophobic slur) and threatened to take him up to the fourth floor of the station and “smash [his] face in.”
The activist also clarified which poster he had brought to the picket. It was dedicated to the persecution of schoolgirl Anna Zhuravleva, who was arrested in a case concerning the non-existent “Columbine” movement after a firecracker was set off—following this, she suffered torture and sexualised violence from fellow inmates.
“16-year-old Anya has been in pre-trial detention for 18 months for a harmless act. Her story is just one of many. Dmitry Vitalievich Tarakanov, Maxim Georgievich Idilov and other individuals involved in the cruel treatment should be held accountable,” Novikov’s poster said. It also featured a QR code leading to the schoolgirl’s support group Telegram channel.
The headline was changed after more accurate information about the topic of the protest became available