22:15, 13 November 2018

Rights defender Gannushkina fined for picket in Titiev's defence

Svetlana Gannushkina. Photo by the press service of Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)

A Moscow court has fined Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the Civil Assistance Committee, who was detained at a rally with a demand to release Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", by 10,000 roubles.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Svetlana Gannushkina and Oleg Orlov were detained on July 9 in Moscow.

The rights defenders were accused of violating the order of holding a rally during the action of the special decree of the President of Russia related to the FIFA World Cup-2018.

Since January 11, 2018, Oyub Titiev, accused of possessing marijuana, has been under arrest; he claims that the drug was planted on him.

Gannushkina believes that her actions were correct.

"The point was a human fate – the fate of Oyub Titiev ... Despite the World Cup, I don't care about the legality or illegality of the ban on public actions," she said.

The repeated violations of the rules for holding rallies may lead to criminal prosecution, the lawyer Rustam Kasimov believes.

Ms Gannushkina has added that in the next two years, until her administrative offense is cancelled, she does not intend to participate in protest actions. The picket in support of Titiev was caused by the urgent need to draw attention to his case, she has added.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 13, 2018 at 06:50 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Rustam Djalilov

Source: CK correspondent