In the evening of 25 March, 7 activists were detained in Verona cafe in Simferopol. The detainees themselves reported about this fact on their pages in social networks. Among the detainees are people who tried to organize a protest action against corruption in Simferopol. The action was refused. After that activists tried to organize a series of single pickets, however they were detained by the police during a meeting in a cafe.
“Several policemen in uniform went into the cafe, approached our table and asked to present identification documents, calling it a check. One of them introduced himself as a senior sergeant. We demonstrated the documents. After the collection of passports and other certificates, we were taken out of the cafe and put in a vehicle without special identification marks. We were brought to the police department No. 3 “Central” of the Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Simferopol (Futbolistov street, 20), we were kept a little inside the car, and we were taken to separate offices. Later, after questioning about the reason for the detention, we were given a answer that they had an “orientation” on us. Each of the seven “tea-party” participants in the cafe had to undergo the following procedures: a written explanation of the actions, a complete examination of belongings, fingerprints and DNA,” – wrote one of the detainees in her blog.
According to the activists’ information, after being interrogated by the police, they were taken to the Crimean Scientific and Practical Centre of Necrology (Fevralskaya Street, 13).
“Everyone passed a test for alcoholic intoxication. As expected, nothing was found. They released us after 11 pm,” a detained activist reported in her blog post.
The members of the group reported that they were released without making any accusations and without providing protocols on detention. As the activists say, they were held in a police department for more than legally allowed 3 hours.
The next day, one of these activists, Dmitry Kisiev, wrote on his page in the social network that he was arrested for 10 days. “According to the decision of the district court of the district of Simferopol, at Khromchenko Street, 6A I was assigned 10 days of arrest for a single picket.”
Another member of this group, Alexei Efremov, wrote on 26 March in the social network that he was detained by the police again. “Once again, people in plainclothes, showing me only one ID of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, putted me in a car and allegedly taking me for examination” – he wrote. Later he reported that, by a court decision, he was fined 500 rubles for violation of article 19.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (Disobedience to the lawful order of a police officer). Efremov said that the reason for giving of 10 days of arrest to Dmitry Kisiev was the same article.
