Organizers of Moscow rally in support of LifeNews to be punished
MOSCOW. May 21 (Interfax) - The organizers of the rally in support of the LifeNews, which is held in central Moscow, will be subjected to liability for exceeding the number of its participants, the press service for the Interior Ministry's Main Department for Moscow told Interfax on Wednesday.
"Despite the fact that today's rally in defense of the journalists from the television company LifeNews, which is held in the Leontyevsky Pereulok, was supposed to have thirty participants, the number of the people who came considerably exceeded that number. For that reason, the organizers of this event will be subjected to liability for considerably exceeding the stated number of participants in accordance with the legislation," the press service said.
The protest now has over 200 participants, the press service said.
On May 18, LifeNews journalists Marat Saichenko and Oleg Sidyakin had been detained near Kramatorsk. They were later transferred to Kyiv. Marina Ostapenko, the head of the press center of the Ukrainian Security Service, said on May 20 that Ukrainian Security Service investigators were working with the detainees, who had allegedly admitted that they were involved in activities other than journalism on the territory of Ukraine.