Summary of the LINK Press Release No. 9

LINK (the Libertarian Information and News Collective of the Network against G8

The repression against activists goes on. It’s less than a day until the beginning of the summit. The number of violations against civil and human rights reaches more than hundred.

Since the press release No.6 the situation got worse. The results of the trials, we have reported earlier, speak for themselves. A few Russian citizens, two Germans and one Swiss have been convicted on the ground of ridiculous accusations with 10 to 15 days of imprisonment.
More people, among them anarchists from St. Petersburg, participants of the alternative Energy Forum and Members of the Legal Team are waiting at this moment for their trials which have been postponed again and again. Some activists have been threatened with the possibility of a crime investigation on the ground of the new “anti-extremists” laws. Apart from that a lot of activists are observed by police and FSB very open.

Meanwhile the number of violations against the civic rights is rising. The Legal Team reports a lot of incidents. But the real number is much higher. Until today they received hundreds of complaints about the restriction of free movement:
- threats and warnings, not to travel to St. Petersburg (26)
- forceful return of tickets (8)
- return tickets have been bought under pressure (4)
- people have been taken out of trains (86).

In 19 cases the right to gather in public space was restricted, 29 people have been detained by police on train stations in St.Petersburg on arrival, 8 were arrested without any reasons. The police entered 9 appartments without official juridical order. And nine passports were confiscated.

Hundreds of activists have the papers been checked on the streets of St.Petersburg.

One example is the odyssey of the activist Alexander Lashmankin from Samara. His house has been searched and all his attempts to travel to St.Petersburg were met with detainment and arrest on his way by train, suburb train and hitchhiking. Finally he was told by the police and the FSB that he won’t be able to reach Piter until the end of the summit. Now he is going home to Samara. Tomorrow he will have a press conference at 11:00 in Samara.

Another example is the threatening of relatives of activists: The mother of the journalist Vlad Tupikin from Moscow. She was met by to policemen on the streets who entered her appartment. They put pressure on the old lady to tell them about her son’s plans in Piter. After she refused to cooperate with them, she was warned about the consequences of her behaviour and future visits.

The third case is Vasilii Starostin, his son Jegor and another comrade from the Siberian Workers Union in Omsk, Elena Girde, who have been detained in Ekaterinburg, while their were traveling to St.Petersburg. After a long and heavy interrogation, where they have been threatened with a courts case on being involved in “extremist’s” activities, the police and FSB adviced them to travel back to Omsk.

We hope to present more precise statistics of the Legal Team in the next days.

Our contact in Russian and English: 8 (916) 992 25 50
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LINK is a member of the AntiG8-Network founded by Anarchists, Radical Ecologists and anti-authoritarian leftist activists in Russia and Eastern Europe. LINK doesn’t speak in the name of the whole network but publishes it’s own press releases and news from other members.