On February 5, press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov announced that the Kremlin would not discuss the court decision on the arrest of the editor-in-chief of the Mediazon website, Sergei Smirnov.
“The Kremlin has no right to interfere in the actions of the judiciary, in any way to assess the verdict of the court, we will not do that this time,” Peskov said.
He noted that the Kremlin is aware of this situation and carefully read all the reports on this matter.
Smirnov was arrested on January 30 in Moscow and released from the police on the same day under the obligation to appear in court, writes Gazeta.ru.
On February 3, Smirnov was arrested for 25 days. The court found him guilty of repeated violation of the established procedure for organizing or holding a rally.
Peskov noted that the detention of participants in uncoordinated actions cannot be called repression. Such statements, he said, are overly emotional. The Kremlin spokesman also drew attention to the fact that “the past illegal and unauthorized actions caused a lot of trouble and inconvenience to the citizens of the country.
At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin, commenting on the uncoordinated actions, said on January 25 that everyone has the right to express their point of view, but within the framework of the law.
On January 23 and 31, in a number of Russian cities, despite numerous warnings from the authorities, uncoordinated actions took place. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation urged citizens to refrain from participating in illegal actions. The ministry warned about administrative and criminal liability for offenses.