RESULT: The track is built, the defenders failed to defend their position (read more...)

Moscow-St.Petersburg Motorway vs. Khimki Forest: Chronicles of Violence and Unlawfulness

February 22, 2011

The State Guardianship and Khimki Police tried to launch a procedure to deprive Evgenia Chirikova of her children. A printed unsigned paper allegedly authored by her neighbours about Chirikova’s “cruelty” toward the children was used as a pretext. The first check showed that the neighbours did not write such a paper, and they denounced all the allegations in it. Therefore, the case was clearly a deliberate distribution of false compromising information (a criminal offence according to Russian law!). Nevertheless, next day the guardianship still tried to prosecute Evgenia. A squall of calls and petitions from outraged people has apparently made them to stop the attempt. Nevertheless, Khimki police tried to enter Chirikova’s apartment on February 27 and March 1.

February 11, 2011

Alla Chernishova who is the chief editor of the environmentalists’ website was surprisingly arrested by Khimki police and taken to the police station together with her 4 and 6 year old children. She was subjected to an extensive interrogation for several hours. She was treated in a very rude manner, policemen threatened to deprive her of her children and to imprison her – demanding  her to give testimonies that the “dummy bomb” was planted by her and Evgenia Chirikova. Alla refused to give false  testimony. She was finally released without any official charge. Nevertheless, the press-service of Moscow District police  distributed an official statement claiming directly that she was guilty in planting the dummy bomb. Later, the police statement was denounced by activists at a press conference, and challenged in court as defamation.

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Video

February 1, 2011

Police broke up a meeting for the protection of a green zone near the Moscow Canal from “development”. A pretext of a “bomb threat” was used to push people away from the site. There was a parcel on the ground that allegedly contained a dummy bomb. Some witnesses later said that the parcel was left by a suspicious-looking man.When a witness on site pointed policemen towards this man as a possible criminal, a policeman said “impossible, that’s our man”. 

January 15, 2011

Four activists were arrested by Khimki police after a peaceful meeting in Khimki Forest. Ununiformed policemen attacked the activists using force,  and threatened  to  use firearms. No any reason for arrest was specified. Later, police tried to accuse them of “unlawful election agitation” – though no election was taking place in this period! Due to strong public pressure in Russia and abroad, the activists were released uncharged.

December 22, 2010

Evgenia Chirikova was detained by Moscow police for a peaceful flashmob action near the Presidential Administration. Later, a Moscow court found that Chirikova did not break the law.

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Evgenia Chirikova was detained by Moscow police, december 22, 2010

Another wave of repression was started after the “final decision” of the Russian Government to go on with the initial option of the motorway through the Khimki Forest was announced on December 14 2010.

December 2, 2010

Some Internet users in Khimki reported that the “Telinkom” internet provider had blocked access to the forest defenders’ website www.ecmo.ru.

November 6, 2010

Two unknown persons attacked journalist Oleg Kashin near his house in Moscow.  Kashin is a very well-known journalist of the newspaper “Kommersant” who wrote an article about the anti-fascists’ action at the Khimki administration. Kashin received numerous serious injuries: concussion, broken shins, and a torn off finger phalanx. The attackers resembled 'football fans' according to Kashin himself. Later, unofficial information appeared that police had tried to turn the case into a “domestic conflict”.

CCTV footage of beating
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Kashin's interview

November 4, 2010

Khimki opposition activist and  supporter of the Movement to Protect Khimki Forest Konstantin Fetisov was beaten by a baseball bat at the entrance of his house. With severe  brain injuries he was taken to hospital. He was in coma for a long time, and as of 1 March 2011 is still not speaking. This was the second attack against him. The first one a few weeks before resulted in a broken jaw.
Khimki Police initially didn't even try to begin an investigation or even to take and study the weapon that was left on site. An investigation was begun only after the attack received publicity in the central mass media, and a group of human rights lawyers and celebrities  addressed President Medvedev.

As a result, some suspected criminals were arrested. A middle-rank bureaucrat from Khimki Administration is among them. There are serious doubts that he could act without authorization from the very top of his administration. Nevertheless, all the top figures in the administration have remained in their positions.

October 21, 2010

The perpetrators of the project organized a meeting in Moscow in favour of the construction of the road through the forest. A journalist from Grani-TV managed to capture the very moment when the “supporters” of the destruction of the forest got their money for participating!

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October 10, 2010

Activist Sergey Ageev was unlawfully detained during an environmentalist meeting in Khimki. Police also tried to arrest Evgena Chirikova – but she managed to escape. The same day it was found out that the Transstroymekhanizatsya company was still carrying out works according to the initial routing of the motorway – as usual, without any official permission.