Activists tell about disruption by Rostov law enforcers of action in support of domestic violence victims

Law enforcers came to the "Not Guilty" festival in support of survivors of domestic violence held in Rostov-on-Don and disrupted the event, the organizers of the festival have claimed. However, law enforcers had no claims against the participants in a similar action in Krasnodar.

The festival itself was scheduled for December 4, but the organizers told about the incident on November 10 only. They were silent so as not to draw attention to similar actions held in other cities, Katerina Stoletnyaya, one of the organizers, has explained.

Russia needs to adopt a law that would prohibit relatives from approaching victims of violence or returning them to their families with the help of the police, human rights activists told the "Caucasian Knot" earlier, commenting on the incidents related to relatives' attempts to return the women who had fled from domestic violence back home.

The organizers had planned to hold an exhibition, a book market and lectures. An hour before the start of the festival, an employee of the gallery told the organizers that she had received a call from the administration of Rostov-on-Don and, under the threat of a visit of OMON (riot police) fighters, demanded to cancel the event. The officials' claims were caused by a photo from the last year's festival depicting a girl in a rainbow-coloured jacket. The city administration treated the jacket as an LGBTQ symbol, the "OVD-Info"* project reports.