It is her word against theirs, but 21-year-old Alyona Kitayeva’s testimony of her treatment at the hands of the police after Sunday’s protests 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, ‘Would you like to have a bag over your head?'”
According to Kitayeva, a police officer placed the plastic bag from the supermarket – which was on the floor ready – over her head and the police continued to “strangle her lightly” until she told them her cell phone password. Then they started searching for their contacts and personal details, she said.
Kitayeva also claimed that the police officer who led her severe interrogation had scratched herself and said she would say she did. Injuring a police officer would put her in more trouble with the law. And, he allegedly indicated that his colleagues would support him.
Kitayeva works for Luybov Sobol, one of the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s allies and a political figure on her own, now under house arrest.
“I already thought about it a lot. I would like to say that I am not afraid and everything, but after that night, I am afraid and without Navalny, I see no hope that the protests will regain their strength, because these repressions are reminiscent of Stalin’s times when they simply closed the office door and tortured people, “continued Kitayeva.
She will have time to think about it even more. The most recent reports indicate that she was sentenced to 12 days in detention for “violating traffic rules”.
The mantra of Navalny and his wife, Yulia, is, “We must not be afraid”, but after the arrest of almost 11,000 people who took part in the protest demonstrations against his imprisonment, there must be more than a little fear in more than some Russians. The images of beatings with police batons, people dragged through the snow and out of cars, and stories like Katayeva’s paint a horrible picture of repression that the Kremlin seems to have no qualms about, insisting that tough measures are necessary for these “illegal rallies. “.
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When asked specifically about some cases, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the allegations were false and exaggerated. “Many of these reports turn out to be false, false or exaggerated. You have to be very precise.” He added that the government is willing to receive complaints from people who believe their rights have been trampled on.
Meanwhile, the detention centers are full. Human rights activists have accelerated the delivery of supplies, food, water and personal care products to those still in prison, including the editor-in-chief of the independent website Mediazona, Sergei Smirnov, who received 25 days for retweeting a joke about his appearance o rock musician in one of the advertisements for the January 23 rally that drew tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people across the country. Officially, Smirnov was accused of “inciting participation in an unauthorized rally”.
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What is different from Soviet times: everything is being documented, from prisons to conditions of incarceration. The video by Anastasia Vasilyeva, Navalny’s ophthalmologist (remember, he almost went blind in one eye when green acid paint was sprayed on it a few years ago) and head of the Alliance of Doctors union, taken at the time of his arrest, became viral. She quietly performed a piano concert by Beethoven while a bunch of policemen stood in her foyer asking questions.
There were video appeals from people who claimed to have spent days in police vans while awaiting processing. It is cold and they have had few opportunities to use the facilities.
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Navalny called on the Russians to demonstrate and stand up against corruption. Putin and the power center are few compared to the general population, and the police certainly cannot arrest everyone, his reasoning continues. It is clear that even the 11,000 collected in recent weeks represented a logistical challenge for law enforcement.
Navalny’s team, in turn, asked people to leave for now, saying there has been a lot of brutality and heavy hand used against the protesters, and it is time for a break. Navalny’s supporters said the demonstrations would resume in the spring, and in the meantime, they would try to get all world leaders to discuss nothing but Navalny, with Putin going forward. This is clearly an exaggeration. But, it is fair to say that all Western leaders are talking about Alexei Navalny this week and asking for his release, as well as the release of those who have been caught for supporting him.
Fox News’ Vicki Choi contributed to this report.