The St. Petersburg City Court rejected the appeal of lawyer Maria Zyryanova against the decision of the Dzerzhinsky District Court of St. Petersburg to arrest Diana Loginova for 13 days for «organizing a mass event that led to a public order violation», reported the SOTAvision* correspondent in the court.
Lawyer Maria Zyryanova pointed out that the protocol was drawn up based on the testimony of «vigilant citizen» Nikolaev, who reported to the police about the «Stoptime» performance, which obstructed the passage of citizens. However, the request to summon him to court was denied.
The court also did not consider the contradiction in the dates: Nikolaev's testimony and the police officers' report were initially dated October 13, whereas the «Stoptime» group performed at that location on October 11.
Only one witness of the performance at the «Ploshchad Vosstaniya» metro station was invited to the courtroom. He stated that there were from 50 to 100 listeners — people came and went as they pleased. The witness himself did not experience difficulties passing by the gathering of people.
Despite this, the court rejected the appeal and upheld the arrest decision. The hearings on the complaints of guitarist Alexander Orlov and drummer Vladislav Leontyev followed a similar scenario.
Loginova and Orlov are currently serving administrative arrests on second protocols for organizing a mass event for performing songs by «foreign agents» on the streets of St. Petersburg. In addition, Diana Loginova was fined under the article on «discrediting» the army for performing a song by Monetochka*.
* Recognized in Russia as «foreign agents».
Photo: SOTAvision