Konstantin Kotov, convicted under the “Dada” article, was arrested for 9 days for organizing an action that he did not organize

The former defendant in the Moscow case, activist Konstantin Kotov, was arrested for nine days on charges of organizing an uncoordinated event. He was detained on November 25 on the way from the Supreme Court, where the case on the liquidation of the human rights organization International Memorial was pending. The decision to arrest was made by the Presnensky District Court of Moscow, informs press service of “Memorial”.

Kotov said that he was detained and subsequently arrested despite the fact that he was at the hearing on Memorial as a media representative. After the hearing, representatives of the police approached him and demanded to show documents. He refused, after which he was taken to the police station. He spent the night before the court in the department.

As the lawyers explained to The Insider, Kotov was actually convicted, not conditionally, served the entire term and does not have administrative supervision, and the current bringing him to administrative responsibility under Art. 20.2 can only affect a possible future conviction under the same “Dada” article – in the event that it is repeated, that is, if he receives two more administrative protocols, all three will enter into force, and for the fourth time he will be charged with the same article 212.1 – on “repeated violation of the rules for holding shares”. According to lawyers, the authorities impute the article about organizing the action even for a post on the social network. At the same time, it was common knowledge that the activists would go out with one-off pickets during the meeting on the liquidation of Memorial.

Konstantin Kotov is the second accused under the “Dada” article, who was sent to a colony. He was detained on August 12, after he left the police after being detained at the August 10 rally. On August 13, he was charged. The reason for the criminal case was three court decisions that entered into force on violation of the rules for holding a rally. Kotov was brought to administrative responsibility on March 7, May 13, June 27, July 15 and July 24 of this year, and on August 10 he took part in an uncoordinated protest action. On September 5, 2019, he was sentenced to 4 years in a general regime colony. On April 20, 2020, the Moscow City Court reduced Kotov’s term from four years in prison to one year and six months. The Memorial Human Rights Center recognized activist Konstantin Kotov as a political prisoner.

Earlier for 25 days was arrested activist Aleksey Belenkin, who came out with a one-man picket in support of International Memorial on 25 November.

The first person who was given a real term in Russia under the article on “repeated violation of the rules for holding shares” (Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code) was Ildar Dadin. In December 2015, Dadin was sentenced to 3 years in prison and, therefore, was recognized as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. On February 26, 2017, he was released after spending 1 year and 2 months in prison.