Organizers of picket in Temryuk state violation of their rights

The organizers and participants of the picket in support of Article 19 of the Russian Constitution in the city of Temryuk, Krasnodar Territory, appealed to the head of the GUVD (Chief Interior Department) and regional prosecutor on illegitimate, in their opinion, actions of law enforcers during the action on February 9.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 9 residents of Temryuk, Krasnodar Territory, went out to a picket in support of Article 19 of the Russian Constitution, which proclaims the universal equality of citizens before the law and the court. The picket was planned from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. Moscow time at 65 Lenin Street at the administration building of the municipal district.

The respective notification was submitted by the organizers of the action - activists of the Inter-Regional Public Movement "All People Are Equal Before the Law and Court" Valeria Shevchenko, Zoya Kolesnik and Vladimir Shkurko - to Andrei Nechushkin, head of the Municipal Formation "City of Temryuk" back on February 4. The notification was officially registered by the employee of the department in charge of working with citizens' applications of the Municipal Formation "Temryuk District".

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by the organizers of the action that they came to the declared place with their posters, but on that very day some off-schedule municipal engineering works were launched in the territory adjacent to the administration building - several big holes were dug in the pavement, machinery was deployed and the area was fenced with the prohibiting tape.

As a result, the protesters had to start their action a little further from the initially claimed location. However, they failed to hold the picket for the planned 2.5 hours. Local officials and militiamen forced the picketers, under threat of detention, to stop the action because of "violation of legislation."

The organizers of the action believe the actions of the officials and law enforcers to be illegitimate; therefore immediately after the picket they sent applications about the incident to the GUVD head and Prosecutor of the Krasnodar Territory.

The administration of the Temryuk District gave no comments to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on the incident in the course of the picket on February 9. The head of the Temryuk ROVD (District Interior Division) said, in response to a request to comment on the statements of the picketers that law enforcers had demanded to stop a duly petitioned event, that "in terms of the legal field, they (the protesters, - note of the "Caucasian Knot") could have done what they did in a legal way," and refused to give any further comments on the phone.