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The Tagansky District Court in Moscow has handed down punishments to five people detained after the CPRF rally on 4 October, reports SOTAvision. All five were charged with taking part in an “unauthorised” march to the memorial for the victims of the shooting at the House of Soviets. According to the official records, the CPRF rally on Krasnopresnenskaya Zastava was authorised by the authorities, but the march that followed was not.

  • Vladimir Bodyashkin was given a 15-day jail term. He said he has been taking part in CPRF marches commemorating the October 1993 events for two years, and previously they had passed off peacefully. According to him, the rally organisers received approval for the slogan “No to political repression” but later the participants changed it to “Freedom for political prisoners,” as they thought the slogans were similar in meaning.
  • Kamilla Fetiskina was sentenced to ten days in detention. She said that she came to honour the memory of the dead, even though she does not agree with everything the CPRF stands for. She also noted that she did not chant slogans and was not carrying any flowers.
  • Darya Korolkova also received a ten-day jail term. She reported that there were bedbugs in the cell where the detainees spent the night. The court asked her why she was interested in the events of 1993.
  • Tatyana Ustinova was fined 25,000 roubles (approx. US$250), while her daughter Maria Ratova was fined 20,000 roubles (approx. US$200). Ustinova and Ratova insisted that they were not taking part in the demonstration, but were on their way to the zoo and had ended up in the crowd by accident. According to Ustinova, her daughter gave testimony under pressure, saying she shouted slogans. She also told the court she was suspected of having a rare genetic disorder—Fahr’s syndrome—and previously had been diagnosed with glaucoma. During the hearing, Ustinova began shaking uncontrollably, an ambulance was called, and she was given injections. The court refused to request medical records from hospitals where she was being treated, or to question her daughter about her state of health. After this, the defence lawyer filed a recusal motion against the judge, but it was not granted.

The defence asked the court to summon the police officers who detained the participants and to request footage from their body cameras, but the court refused.

Earlier, the Tverskoy District Court in Moscow jailed Kirill Martemyanov for 14 days and fined Maria Usoltseva 4,000 roubles (approx. US$40) under the article on disobeying a police order. The court ruled that on 4 October they had taken part in an “unauthorised” march on Druzhinnikovskaya Street.

The CPRF had previously announced a march for 4 October from Krasnopresnenskaya Zastava to the memorial to those killed during the political crisis of 1993. During the event, participants chanted: “Freedom for political prisoners,” “No to political repression” and “Down with the Tsar!” After the last slogan, security services began detaining people abruptly. Around 60 people were taken to police stations in total, with at least 15 of them kept there overnight.