18:14, 31 May 2017

Volunteer of Alexei Navalny's office in Rostov fined for taking part in anticorruption action

Timofei Martynenko near the Proletarsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don. Photo by Konstantin Volgin for "Caucasian Knot"

In Rostov-on-Don, the court has imposed a fine in the amount of 15,000 roubles on Timofei Martynenko, a volunteer of the office of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, for involvement in a rally. The court's decision will be challenged, an activist's advocate reports.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 25, an administrative protocol was drawn up against Timofei Martynenko in connection with his participation in the action on March 26.

On March 26, Rostov-on-Don, like several other Russian cities, hosted an action with the demand to investigate the information on corruption among top-ranking officials, voiced by the Alexei Navalny's Anticorruption Foundation. According to organizers of the Rostov rally, it was attended by about 1000 people, and at least 15 participants of the rally were fined.

According to the protocol read out by the judge, Timofei Martynenko "have got an amplification device and reported that he had come to the rally to defend his rights. He talked about the threats of expulsion of students from higher education institutions for participation in a rally and also called on for publicity."

Timofei Martynenko has said that he did not know about organizers of the action and that he learned about the rally from the social network VKontakte.

According to advocate Dmitry Petrov, the actions of Timofei Martynenko contain no corpus delicti and the very protocol is drawn up "with numerous violations."

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

Author: Konstantin Volgin

Source: CK correspondent