On 29 March in Yekaterinburg, a major city in the Urals, police detained three people at 1905 Square, reports Mediazona. Two days earlier, a newly created Telegram channel called “The Scarlet Swan Yekaterinburg” claimed that the city authorities had approved a rally at this square against the blocking of Telegram, although there was no official information about the event.
Police detained a 17-year-old college student, his 18-year-old acquaintance, and their friend. On 29 March, they were out walking in the city centre when they noticed a security officer taking their photograph. According to the teenagers, they did not know a rally had been announced at 1905 Square and were not intending to participate.
“We stood there for about three minutes. We were already about to leave to go about our business. But at around 15:25, officers approached us and took us aside. We answered all their questions and showed our passports. We were asked if we knew about the rally, but we said we knew nothing about it. We were not rude and did not provoke them,” the student said.
The police asked them to unlock their phones and show their photo gallery. The student said he had forgotten his phone code. After this, he was struck on the leg, stomach and face, and also received “a very powerful slap in the face.” When he tried to break free, his t-shirt and bag were torn.
He and his friend were detained, but their 18-year-old companion managed to escape. Those detained were taken to Police Department No. 9. The girl was soon released together with a social worker. No charge sheet was drawn up against her, but security officers did examine her phone.
The 17-year-old student was charged with disobeying the police (Article 19.3 of the Administrative Offences Code). The official report claimed the teenagers had been filming the security officers and said they were taking part in the rally. The police accused the student of failing to show his passport and refusing to hand over his phone—which, in their view, constituted disobedience.
According to the student, at the police station he eventually did unlock his phone. One of the security officers tried to find “something political.” After this, the detainee was held for 48 hours at a temporary detention centre for minors.
On 31 March, the Verkh-Isetsky District Court rejected a police request to keep the student at the centre for a further 30 days. The police had claimed this was necessary in order to transfer him to his parents, who live in another region.
The 18-year-old friend who had managed to evade police went to the station himself on 30 March to collect his passport. He reported being beaten by security officers: “One blow to the chest, a couple of times on the back, grabbed by the neck and swung around the room, maybe hit somewhere else too, but I don’t remember.” The channel “Libertarianism in the Urals” writes that he was beaten by officers from the Centre “E.” They threatened to “smash [his] face in” and called him a “poodle.”
“The ‘defenders against extremism’ gave as their reason for the beatings and threats their hurt feelings after unlawfully reading Mikhail’s private messages, where he commented on his own detention,” the channel reports.
A disobedience protocol was also drawn up against the 18-year-old detainee. He was fined two thousand roubles (approx. US$22).
At this time, OVD-Info is aware of 27 people detained in various Russian cities at venues where rallies against blockings have taken place or were planned.
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Viktor Gilin’s solo protest in Perm / Photo from the Telegram channel of the Perm branch of the “Rassvet” party