A protocol was drawn up against an activist from Khimki under the “rally” article because of messages in a residents’ group chat.

Police have drawn up a protocol against Alexey Sofin, a public activist from Khimki, near Moscow, who invited residents of his housing complex to join a “Rossiya 1” TV report shoot. This was reported by the outlet Ridus.

Sofin lives in the “Solnechnaya Sistema” residential complex. As a member of the joint council of the “Solnechnaya Sistema” and “Dve Stolitsy” complexes, he has been involved for a long time in addressing local improvement issues.

In mid-April, Sofin invited the Rossiya 1 channel to film a story about the road leading out of the complex, whose construction had been halted. Local residents had repeatedly complained about the road.

The activist left a message in the residents’ group chat along with a photo of the channel’s correspondent, and wrote: “We’re waiting for everyone [to join the shoot].” He explained that turning to television would “raise this abandoned site issue at the regional level.” Alexey Sofin also suggested that residents prepare an appeal to the governor or the president during the filming.

The segment later aired on Rossiya 1. But two months later, the activist received a call from the police, who asked him to come to the station to provide an explanation. According to law enforcement officials, the deputy head of public order protection at the police found elements of an offence in his messages in the Telegram chat.

“A request came from the head of police to the administration of Khimki urban district, dated 4 June. On 9 June, a response followed, stating that I hadn’t notified the authorities about holding a mass event. But I didn’t hold any event. All this ‘event’ consisted of was that I wrote under the correspondent’s photo: ‘We’re waiting for everyone.’ Two screenshots and this letter from the administration were considered enough to write up a protocol,” Sofin said.

Law enforcement charged the activist under the article for holding a public event without submitting notification (Part 2, Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The case was referred to the Khimki City Court.

Sofin himself believes that this is an attempt by the city administration to put pressure on him.

“This isn’t the first time. The same thing happened last December, when they tried to initiate an administrative case against me. On that occasion, it wasn’t the police—there was a complaint from the deputy head of the urban district, Tsukanov… This practice has been going on in Khimki for some time. As is known, if you get two administrative offences under this article, a third one can lead to a criminal case,” said Alexey Sofin.