Week-ending 30 April 2021
On 27 April Moscow’s Meshchansky district court jailed human rights defender Sergei Davidis for ten days on charges of ‘organization or holding of a public event without filing, in accordance with the established procedure, a notification of the holding of a public event.’ On 18 April Sergei Davidis had retweeted an announcement about a protest rally planned for 21 April. He was arrested on 25 April and held by police for two days before a court sentenced him to ten days’ imprisonment. Sergei Davidis heads the programme on political prisoners of the Memorial Human Rights Centre.
Sources:
Front Line Defenders, 27 April 2021: On 27 April 2021, the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow charged human rights defender Sergey Davidis to 10 days administrative arrest for “organization or holding of a public event without filing, in accordance with the established procedure, a notification of the holding of a public event”. The charges are based on a retweet by Sergey Davidis on 18 April 2021, of a tweet about a rally in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny planned for 21 April 2021. Sergey Davidis was detained on 25 April 2021 and was held at the Department of Internal Affairs of the Meshchansky District of Moscow for more than two days before the court ordered to arrest him.
FIDH, 29 April 2021: The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in the Russian Federation. Description of the situation: The Observatory has been informed about the conviction and arbitrary detention of Sergei Davidis, member of the board of Memorial Human Rights Center (HRC Memorial), a member organisation of FIDH, and director of the HRC Memorial “Support for Political Prisoners” program. On April 27, 2021, Sergei Davidis was sentenced by the Meshchansky District Court to ten days of administrative detention under Part 2 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offences of Russia (“organising a public event without filing a notice”) for making a retweet, on April 18, 2021, containing information about the April 21 pro-Navalny rallies. On April 25, 2021, Sergei Davidis was arbitrarily arrested by the Moscow police in the entrance hall of his apartment building. Mr. Davidiswas taken to the Shchukino police station, and subsequently transfered to the Meshchansky police station without any explanation. He was later charged with “organising a public event without filing a notice”. At the time of publication of this urgent appeal, Mr. Davidis remains detained at the Meshchansky police station, where he is serving his sentence.
