Moscow police detain four Pussy Riot activists in 24 hours

Over the course of the day on Tuesday, June 22, Moscow police detained four activists from the protest group Pussy Riot.

On Tuesday afternoon, police officers detained Pussy Riot member and municipal deputy Lyusa Shtein and took her to Moscow’s Arbat Police Station. The activist reported her own arrest on Twitter. Lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov from OVD-Info was sent to the police station to assist her. 

According to Zakhvatov, Shtein has been charged with disobeying a police officer. OVD-Info later reported that Shtein was handed the misdemeanor charge for allegedly refusing to show her passport to a police officer.

A few hours after Shtein’s arrest, Moscow police detained another Pussy Riot activist, director Anna Kuzminykh, and took her to the Krasnoselsky Police Station. Lawyer Ilya Utkin, who works with OVD-Info, went to assist her. 

Utkin later reported that Kuzminykh has also been charged with disobeying a police officer. According to OVD-Info, an ambulance was called to the police station to treat Kuzminykh for a serious illness. The activist’s lawyer has filed a motion for her release pending trial.

Update. On Tuesday evening, the Telegram channel Avtozak Live reported that Moscow police had detained Pussy Riot activist Maria Alyokhina, who has been under house arrest since late January in connection with the so-called “Sanitary Case.” The police also arrested activist Olga Shalina from “Other Russia” movement.

Earlier on Tuesday, Moscow police detained yet another Pussy Riot member, Alexander Sofeev, along with his friend, photographer Dmitry Vorontsov. The two were written up for drinking alcohol in a public place, allegedly because Sofeev had a bottle of wine in his backpack at the time of the arrests. 

On June 16, Pussy Riot activist Veronika Nikulshina was jailed for 15 days after a Moscow court found her guilty of disobeying a policeman. According to the arrest report, law enforcement were tipped off about Nikulshina allegedly planning to disrupt the Euro 2020 soccer championship in St. Petersburg.

At the 2018 World Cup Final in Moscow, Pussy Riot members carried out an on-field protest called the “Policeman Enters the Game.” During the match, activists Veronika Nikulshina, Pyotr Verzilov, Olga Pakhtusova, and Olga Kuracheva ran on the field at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium dressed in police uniforms. The activists were subsequently fined and jailed.