More violence against activists: Russian forces search houses

Saturday, February 06, 2021

Continue violence against activists
Russian forces search houses

After 10,000 arrests, activists critical of the Kremlin want to refrain from protests to release Navalny for the time being. Police violence remains, however. There are 30 missions in St. Petersburg alone. There is talk of brutal arrests by masked forces and cordoned off streets.

After the mass protests against the imprisonment of the Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny, Russian forces continue to use brute force against activists critical of the government. In St. Petersburg and in the Pacific metropolis of Vladivostok, there were several arrests and massive house searches, as can be read on several independent portals on the Internet channel Telegram and seen on photos and videos.

In St. Petersburg alone, there were 30 operations, as the police announced. Supporters of Navalny were particularly affected, including those in the organization Open Russia (Otkrytaja Rossija) of the Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who lives abroad. The former oil manager is one of the financially strong opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In St. Petersburg, many streets were cordoned off with barricades for hours. The situation resembles a city in a state of emergency preparing for an attack, reported the local news portal fontanka.ru. Hundreds of police officers were standing by. The reason for the unusually strong security presence is unclear, it said. It is true that there had recently been demonstrations in Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg for the release of Navalny. However, given the more than 10,000 arrests in the past few days and because of overcrowded prisons, the opposition's team had declared that it would for the time being not protest.

Mute man fined for screaming

"Stay free!", Navalny had announced on Instagram. The case of a mute man caused horror, accused of having participated in protests in St. Petersburg and shouting slogans. The human rights portal Apologija Protesta reported that a court had sentenced the severely disabled person, who could barely hear, to a fine after his temporary arrest.

In many places the officials confiscated technology and cell phones. Lawyers criticized that some of the masked forces had neither introduced themselves nor said anything about the allegations. In Vladivostok in the far east of the country, the journalist Gennady Shulga was arrested at his home – and pressed his head on the floor in front of a pet bowl. The police released the video without the journalist's consent – as a deterrent to dissenters in the country, commentators said.