Rally organizer and two protestors fined in Gelendzhik

The court has found Nikolai Sokol, Kirill Yaroslavtsev, and Olga Botrakova guilty of violating the rules for holding a rally of real estate investors in Gelendzhik and sentenced each of the defendants to a fine of 15,000 roubles. The participants of the action announced their intention to challenge the court's decision.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 5, in Gelendzhik, owners of cottages in the village of Pushkinsky Dol, who fell victim to fraud with land plots, held a protest action. During their action, law enforcers voiced no claims against the protestors. However, several days after the rally, policemen began visiting participants of the action to draw up protocols on administrative violations.

On August 18, about 20 members of public organizations and residents of Gelendzhik came to court to support the participants and the organizer of the rally.

At the court, the defendants stated that no insulting statements were addressed to the authorities, and no insulting words were written on the posters at the rally. The speakers who delivered their speeches at the rally voiced their opinion, and it was the right of any citizen of Russia provided by Article 29 (Everyone is guaranteed freedom of thought and speech) of the Russian Constitution.

The court ordered a fine for the fact that the participants of the action were holding in their hands the posters with the statements to express mistrust of the authorities and judges from the Krasnodar Regional Court, as well as with the demand to dismiss them, stated Kirill Yaroslavtsev and Olga Botrakova after the rally.

The fined protestors and their advocate Mikhail Benyash announced their intention to file appeals against the court's decision, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

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