Five participants of the action against the construction of landfill for Moscow rubbish at station Shies complained to the ECHR about decisions of the Russian courts, which fined them for sums ranging from 24 to 30 thousand rubles for participating in an uncordinated rally and march on April 7. This was announced on August 27 by human rights project Apology of Protest.
Environmental activists Elena Kalinina, Ekaterina Tsvetkova, Mikhail Shaklein, Nikolay Grigoryev, and Evgeny Popov participated in uncoordinated protests against landfill construction at Shies on April 7 in Arkhangelsk. Within a few days after the action, two reports under article 20.2 of the Administrative Code ("Violating the Established Procedure for Arranging or Conducting a Meeting, Rally, Demonstration, Procession or Picket") were written — separately for the rally and march. Popov (known under the pseudonym Eugene Bogucharsky) said that he was at the protest action as a journalist.
According to Apology of Protest, the division of one action into two violates human rights, as participants are punished twice for one offense. Lawyers questioned the very fact of the offense, as activists participated in a peaceful action, and considered the violation of the city's infrastructure, which was referred to by the courts, to be far-fetched. Since the decisions of the Russian courts came into force, the activists were forced to pay fines. According to Arkhangelsk lawyer Alexei Kuroptev, who cooperates with human rights organization "Agora", some people paid the fines on their own, but most of them used donations.
According to author of channel Apology of Protest lawyer Alexei Glukhov, he is aware of 22 activists challenging fines for the action on April 7. They can also potentially become authors of complaints to the ECHR.
— [After the courts and fines] I became even more actively involved [into the fight against the landfill]. The authorities do not understand that such tricks turn people against them even more, — Elena Kalinina who submitted the complaint to ECHR told "7x7".
The protest action on April 7, 2019 was the first major protest against landfill construction at Shies. Several thousand people walked from the Trade Unions square along Trinity Avenue to Lenin square. Participants of the action demanded resignation of the head of Arkhangelsk oblast Igor Orlov. The police warned the participants that the action was uncoordinated, but did not use force. In the following days, police detained activists at a termless protest in the center of Arkhangelsk. They were identified with the help of videos that security forces had made at the rally.
