13:03, 16 May 2017

Court fines coordinator of Alexei Navalny's headquarters in Rostov-on-Don

Elena Kulikova after court session. Photo by Konstantin Volgin for the 'Caucasian Knot'.

The Proletarsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don has imposed a fine in the amount of 15,000 roubles on Elena Kulikova, a coordinator of the Alexei Navalny's pre-election campaign headquarters, for participating in the rally on March 26.

On March 26, in Rostov-on-Don, like in a number of other Russian cities, an anti-corruption rally was held with the demand to investigate the information on the facts of corruption among top-ranking officials voiced by Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation. According to the organizers of the Rostov anti-corruption rally, it was attended by about 1000 people. Later, 15 participants of the rally were fined.

According to a police protocol drawn up on April 28, "on March 26, 2017, Elena Kulikova took part in a rally held in Theatre Square. From an improvised tribune, she was chanting through a sound amplifier the slogan 'Rostov against thieves!', although she was aware that the rally was not sanctioned."

On March 26, according to Elena Kulikova, she actually took part in the action in Theatre Square, but "the gathered people were not asked to leave the square and the police did not detain anyone during the rally."

Advocate Petrov has noted that he does not agree with the police protocol and treats it as illegal, "in particular, since the protocol was drawn up a long time after the date of the rally."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Author: Konstantin Volgin

Source: CK correspondent