Moscow police briefly detained prominent anti-Kremlin activist Ildar Dadin on Friday. Dadin was detained less than two weeks after he was released from prison. He was arrested nearly three years ago for staging a one-man demonstration outside Russia’s prison service. Dadin was the first person to be jailed under new regulations that made some forms of non-violent protest a criminal offense.
Dadin served two and half years out of a three year sentence before being released. He was released shortly after claims that he was being tortured and feared for his life were picked up by mainstream media. The prison denied Dadin’s claims, but chose to relocate him before freeing him early. The Supreme Court threw out his conviction and ordered the case closed on February 26, 2017.
Several eyewitnesses including his wife, Anastasia Zotova, have confirmed that Dadin was arrested for not showing his passport when prompted. She wrote in a social media post:
“Ildar again is arrested, His first picket (since his release), his first detention.”
Dadin was reportedly asked for his passport by police as he was holding a placard in central Moscow outside the federal prison service demanding that a several prison officials be fired or resign.
Activists and supporters of Dadin are lobbying to get the law under which he was first jailed, which made it a crime to violate protest rules more than twice in 180 days, annulled.
[revad2]
