The political strategist and the journalists who covered his picket have been fined under the protest law.

The Tverskoy District Court in Moscow has fined political strategist Dmitry Kisiev and Kommersant journalist Bozhena Ivanova 20,000 roubles each (about US$220) over a solo protest near the State Duma. This was reported by SOTAvision and Slovo Zashchite.

Both were found guilty under the article on violating the rules for participating in a public event (Part 5, Article 20.2 of the Russian Administrative Code).

Dmitry Kisiev, who previously headed Boris Nadezhdin’s campaign headquarters, came to the State Duma on 22 July holding a poster: “For Russia without censorship. Orwell wrote a dystopia, not a manual.” On that day, officials were considering in the third reading a bill on fines for searching for extremist materials on the internet and for other activities.

Kisiev was detained a few minutes after the protest began. Police also detained RusNews correspondents Yulia Petrova and Konstantin Zharov, as well as Kommersant journalist Bozhena Ivanova, who were covering the protest.

All four were taken to the Tverskoy district police station, where protocols were filed against them for violating protest regulations. According to the police report, at least 15 people supposedly took part in the event, writes Slovo Zashchite.

On the same day, Kisiev and Ivanova were taken to the Tverskoy District Court for their administrative cases. The court ultimately postponed their hearings to 25 July.

Previously, Dmitry Kisiev had tried to obtain permission from the city authorities for a protest at the State Duma with up to 10 participants, but he was refused permission.

19 September The Tverskoy District Court in Moscow fined RusNews journalist Yulia Petrova 20,000 roubles (about US$220), the outlet itself reports.

The journalist was found guilty of violating the regulations for participating in a public event (Part 5, Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code). During the trial, one of the witnesses said that Petrova and the other journalists were doing their job and were not chanting any slogans. The witness noted that as soon as police approached her during Kisiev’s protest, she immediately showed her press card. Nevertheless, she was put into a police vehicle and taken to the station.

“The protocol says that allegedly we, posing as media representatives, drew attention to the arrested Kisiev,” RusNews quotes Petrova as saying at the trial. “As if we were carrying out some sort of campaigning. Even then, I was wearing press badges, and here, in the Tverskoy court, I’ve been here more than thirty times as a journalist. The Tverskoy court has my accreditations. Only now I am sitting here not as a correspondent, but I am on trial for my journalistic work!”

Earlier that same day, the court heard the administrative case of Konstantin Zharov. His lawyer from OVD-Info, Natalia Tikhonova, said on her Telegram channel that the court refused to add an audio recording from the police station to the case materials. The recording contained remarks such as: “I have no idea how the fuck to charge him,” and “Wouldn’t it be easier to write him up for hooliganism?”

During the hearing, Zharov began to feel unwell due to a recent attack on him after an evening event supporting political prisoners. He required surgery as a result of the attack. The lawyer requested that the hearing be postponed, but the judge said she could state Zharov’s position on his behalf. In the end, the hearing was rescheduled for 7 October.