Stavropol law enforcers disrupt a farmer’s picket on Chekist’s Day

Today, law enforcers have disrupted a solo picket by farmer Mikhail Shevchenko in front of the FSB building in Stavropol. The picketer protested against ineffective investigation into threats and raider land seizure.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that Mikhail Shevchenko, a resident of the Stavropol Territory, held a hunger strike and daily solo pickets in Moscow in November and December 2019. He demanded from the law enforcement bodies to investigate the situation with the raider seizure of his business.

Today, at 9:00 a.m. Moscow time, Mikhail Shevchenko has come to a solo picket in front of the FSB building for the Stavropol Territory. The farmer brought with him a poster calling for punishment of those involved in the raider seizure of his land. According to Mikhail Shevchenko, as soon as he unfolded the poster, a man in uniform, but without any identification marks, came out of the FSB building and asked him to leave. “I asked: ‘Why?’ The answer was: ‘This is my personal request.’ I said that I decided not to fulfil the personal request,” Mikhail Shevchenko said.

Twenty minutes after the start of the picket, two men in civilian clothes approached the activist, took him by the arms, and forced him around the corner of the FSB building, where policemen were standing. The activist was informed that a complaint had been filed against him stating that he was preventing FSB officers from entering the building. “They explained to me ‘without a protocol’ that a general was to arrive to take part in a solemn event. After he comes, I’ll be able to continue my picket,” Mikhail Shevchenko told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

Mikhail Shevchenko explained that both the date of the picket and the place of its holding were not chosen by chance: on December 20, Russia has the Day of employees of the security agencies of the Russian Federation, the so-called Chekist’s Day. Thus, Mikhail Shevchenko tried to draw maximum attention to his problem.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 20, 2021 at 04:08 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.