It’s her word against theirs, but 21-year-old Alyona Kitayeva’s testimony about her treatment among police, following Sunday’s protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin, was powerful. She describes how scared she was.
“I was alone in the room with those four men, officers, and one said, ‘How do you want a bag over your head?’
According to Kitayeva, an officer put the plastic bag – which was already lying on the floor – over her head and the police continued to ‘lightly strangle’ her until she told her password for a cellphone. Then they went to her contacts and personal data, she said.
Kitayeva also claimed the policeman who led her harsh interrogation gave himself a few scratches and said he would say she did. If an officer is injured, it would get her in trouble with the law. And he apparently indicated that his colleagues would support him.
Kitayeva works for Luybov Sobol, one of the allies of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and a political figure in his own right, now under house arrest.
“I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I want to say that I’m not scared and all that, but after the night I’m scared and without Navalny I see no hope that the protests will regain their power, because these oppressions are reminiscent of the “Stalin times when they just locked the door of the office and tortured people,” Kitayeva continued.
She will have time to think about it even more. The latest reports are that she was sentenced to 12 days in prison for ‘violating traffic regulations’.
The mantra of Navalny and his wife, Yulia, was’ we should not be afraid ‘, but after the arrest of almost 11,000 people who took part in the protests against his incarceration, there must be more than a little fear in more than’ a few Russians. The images of beatings with police batons, people being dragged across the snow and out of cars, and stories like Katayeva’s paint an ugly picture of repression that the Kremlin apparently has no doubt about, and insist that harsh measures are needed for these ‘illegal rallies’.
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When Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was specifically asked about some issues, the demands were untrue and exaggerated. Quite a few such reports end up being untrue or false or exaggerated. ‘ One has to be very accurate. “He added that the government is prepared to investigate complaints from people who believe their rights have been violated.
Meanwhile, detention centers have been filled to overflowing. Human rights activists began handing over supplies, food, water and toiletries to those still locked up, including the editor-in-chief of the independent website Mediazona, Sergei Smirnov, who was given 25 days to repeat a joke about him. the rock musician in one of the ads for the January 23 rally that drew tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands nationwide. Officially, Smirnov is charged with ‘inciting participation in an unauthorized rally’.
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What is different from Soviet times: everything is documented, from arrests to conditions of imprisonment. The video of Anastasia Vasilyeva, Navalny’s ophthalmologist (remember, he was almost blinded in one eye when he threw green acid paint at him a few years ago) and the head of the Doctors’ Alliance, who is currently dating her arrest has gone viral. She calmly performed a piano concerto by Beethoven while a group of officers stood in her foyer looking for questions.
Video appeals have been made of people claiming to have spent days in police vans while waiting for processing. It is cold and they have had little opportunity to use facilities.
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Navalny called on the Russians to speak out and stand up against corruption. Putin and the power center are few compared to the general population, and the police can certainly not arrest everyone, he said. Clearly, even the 11,000 taken over the past few weeks are a logistical challenge to law enforcement.
Meanwhile, Navalny’s team asked people to stop for the time being, saying there was too much brutality and heaviness used against the protesters, and it was time for a break. Supporters of Navalny said protests would resume in the spring and in the meantime they would try to get every world leader to discuss anything other than Navalny with Putin. This is clearly a stretch. But it is fair to say every Western leader is talking about Alexei Navalny this week and asking for his release, as well as the release of those admitted to support him.
Fox News’ Vicki Choi contributed to this report.