19:02, 9 February 2014

Igor Kharchenko back at large in Krasnodar

Igor Kharchenko, an activist of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus", after discharge. Krasnodar, February 9, 2014. Photo by Natalya Porokhnia for the "Caucasian Knot"

Igor Kharchenko, an activist of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus", who had been arrested for five days in Krasnodar, was released on Sunday.

He was detained in Krasnodar on February 4. His colleague Olga Soldatova reported that shortly before his detention three unidentified hooligans smashed Igor's car. The city police spokesman said that the activist was accused of disobeying a lawful order of a policeman. On February 5, Kharchenko was found guilty of disobeying the police and arrested for five days. All the time of the detention, he was on hunger strike.

Let us note here that the human rights organization Amnesty International announced that the circumstances of Kharchenko's harassment made him a "prisoner of conscience".

Source: CK correspondent