 Source: HRO.org (info) Igor Kharchenko, an activist with the public monitoring group ‘Ecological Watch for the North Caucasus’ and the Yabloko party, was detained in Krasnodar on the 4 January. Police reports say he will be charged with disobeying a legitimate order by a police officer. Igor Kharchenko’s detention was reported by his fellow environmentalists. One of them, Olga Soldatova, told a correspondent from the Caucasian Knot that three individuals had smashed Kharchenko’s car shortly before he was detained. Krasnodar police confirmed the detention of Igor Kharchenko. A police officer from the Western district of Krasnodar told Caucasian Knot that Kharchenko had been charged with a criminal offence under article 19.3 of the RF Code of Administrative Offences (disobeying a legitimate order by a police officer). According to the officer, Kharchenko’s trial will take place tomorrow, 5 February. Kharchenko’s lawyer, Aleksander Popkov, confirmed the damage to the car. ‘The windows were smashed, the tyres slashed and liquid ammonia had been poured everywhere’, he wrote on Twitter. On the evening of 3 February, Kharchenko and 5 other activists from EcoWatch and Yabloko were detained and taken to the police station. They were released within a few hours without charge. According to the activists, the authorities feared that they would protest on the streets of Krasnodar against repression and the Olympics in Sochi, as 4 February was the day of the Olympic Torch relay, reports Caucasian Knot. Translated by Irina Zolotareva |
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