‘Heroes of days gone by’ St. Petersburg police remove banner featuring journalists, politicians, and human rights activists killed in Russia
Overnight on July 14–15, a banner featuring drawings of journalists, politicians, and human rights activists murdered in Russia from 2006 to 2015 appeared on the side of a transformer vault in St. Petersburg’s Pushkarsky Garden, reports the news site ZakS.ru.
The portraits on the banner were drawn in the style of the cover for The Beatles’ album “Revolver.” Among many others, the banner depicted lawyer Stanislav Markelov, Novaya Gazeta journalists Anna Politkovskaya and Anastasia Baburova, opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, and human rights activists Natalya Estemirova. The drawings were accompanied by the words “Heroes of days gone by.”
The banner was up for several hours before police officers dismantled it and took it away.
The banner was hung on the same transformer vault where a graffiti mural of jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny was painted in late April. Public works employees painted over the Navalny mural within four hours of its appearance. St. Petersburg police also launched a criminal case for politically motivated vandalism.
Not long after the Navalny mural was covered up, the phrase “Choose the right heroes. Think for yourself” was painted on the same side of the transformer vault. Later that day, a new graffiti mural appeared in the neighborhood, featuring a riot police officer in a helmet and mask, along with the words “A hero of our time.”
