5 Aug 2019 20:26

Public Monitoring Commission describes police's violations in detentions of Aug 3 rally participants

MOSCOW. Aug 5 (Interfax) - Members of the Public Monitoring Commission have recorded a number of violations while inspecting the police stations where the detained participants in the unsanctioned rally in Moscow on August 3 were taken to.

"Members of the Public Monitoring Commission visited about four police stations, the majority of violations were recorded in the Maryino district police stations, where some 30 people, including journalists and Human Rights Council member [Igor] Kalyapin, were taken to," Moscow Public Monitoring Commission Executive Secretary Ivan Melnikov told Interfax.

Public monitors were not allowed to enter this police station for over than an hour and a half, he said.

"We believe that the police deliberately and illegally hindered the check conducted by the Public Monitoring Commission, we will certainly report this to the prosecutor's office," Melnikov said.

The majority of the detainees complained that they were held in police vans at the premises of the police stations for a long time, he said.

"One of the reporters complained that the police had seized his press badge and editorial task. There were also complaints about police's unlawful demands, including that the detainees undergo fingerprinting," Melnikov said.

In addition, the commission also received complaints that lawyers were not allowed to see their detained clients for a long time, "but these issues have been addressed."

The unsanctioned event in the form of gathering and processions along the Moscow boulevards in support to those who were denied registration as Moscow City Duma candidates took place in Moscow on August 3.

According to the police, some 1,500 people participated in it. About 600 people were detained for various violations.

According to the human rights project OVD-Info, 828 people, including over 90 minors, were detained at the rally; 19 people sustained various injuries while being detained.