The Moscow City Court reduced the term of arrest of journalist Azar

The Moscow City Court was supposed to consider the complaint of the defenders of the arrested journalist on June 1, but the meeting was postponed until Friday, as the document appeared two more additional reasons why the arrested should be released earlier. The court took a break to examine the evidence, writes Interfax, citing the words of the lawyer of the journalist Leonid Solovyov.

Azar was fined and detained for 15 days because during self-isolation he went to a solitary picket in support of the detained creator of the Police Ombudsman community Vladimir Vorontsov. Four criminal cases have already been opened on Vorontsov for extorting 300 thousand rubles from a former police officer, disseminating pornography and false information defaming the honor and dignity of the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The police officers who leaked the information to Vorontsov were promised an amnesty if they surrendered themselves by June 3. If police officers are not recognized, and their names come up during the investigation later, they will have to answer according to the law. Vorontsov himself believes that the persecution against him began because on his portal he criticized the work of the police. In particular, there was a loud scandal with audio recordings on which Elena Ustinova, the head of the department for precinct city administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Novosibirsk, distributed plans to subordinates how many violators of self-isolation needed to be caught in a day. Ustinov was fired.

After the detention of Azar in Moscow and the regions, journalists and activists began to picket, protesting against the arrest of his colleague. They were all detained. The capital’s Interior Ministry reminded that rallies during self-isolation were illegal. Everyone who goes to the pickets, at least, will be fined, violators can also be arrested and involved in compulsory work.