22:52, 8 March 2007

Anti-Chechen war picket organizer detained in Moscow

In the Novopushkinskiy Public Garden of Moscow, Andrei Nalyotov, one of the organizers of a picket in memory of Aslan Maskhadov, former president of Chechnya, and against the war there, which is being held right now, has been detained. Elena Batenkova, a participant of the action, has just informed the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" about it straight from the venue.

In the words of the witness, at first militiamen pulled out from Nalyotov's hands and tore into pieces a poster with Anna Politkovskaya's portrait. The picketer tried to resist and was detained. Militiamen assert that a number of picketers held posters, the content of which was contradictory to the applied theme of the action: "Drawing the authorities' and public attention to the necessity of political settlement of the conflict in Chechnya."

Author: Vyacheslav Feraposhkin, CK correspondent