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On 23 and 24 December, the Kuntsevsky District Court in Moscow found activists Yekaterina Molchanova, Anastasia Kholina, Maria Posokhina, Rustam Makhmudov, and Larisa Makarova guilty of violating rules for holding a rally (part 5, article 20.2 of the Administrative Offences Code). Their OVD-Info defender, Yevgeny Kurakin, reported this.

In November, two other park defenders—Yekaterina Gorbacheva and Darya Dorofeeva—received similar fines under the same article.

The activists were detained in May during their patrol of the park. Police claimed they were holding a group picket and, as evidence, pointed to a drawing that children had given to the defenders of Krylatskiye Hills. The drawing had “Heroes of Krylatskiye Hills” written on it and was hung on the fence by the park. Law enforcement insisted it was a protest placard.

“During questioning in court, the police would clearly lose their train of thought when asked if the confiscated drawing contained any signs of mass public agitation,” the defender said. “The court tried to avoid inconvenient questions and also refused to conduct a forensic linguistic examination of the children’s drawing for agitation.”

  • Since last summer, construction work using heavy equipment has been underway at Krylatskiye Hills. The work has resulted in the destruction of fertile soil, the death of plants and the migration of animals, including species listed in the Red Data Book. More than 70 hectares of the park are now inaccessible to local residents.