Meanwhile, more and more people in Russia and abroad joined protests against destruction of Khimki Forest.
During July - August 2010 a number of illegal arrests of participants in the anti-fascist movement were made, among them:
On July 31 in Kupavna near Moscow 50 persons were detained without any charges. They were subjected to fingerprinting and photographing.
On August 21 70 participants of a charitable concert were detained in Zhukovsky town and at least 10 of them were beaten.
Also on August 21 in Kostroma, police and state security detained and subjected to fingerprinting more than 200 persons in search of the organizers of the action at the Khimki administration.
Simultaneously pressure upon journalists mounted. In particular, Oleg Kashin from 'Kommersant' newspaper was pressed by policemen with requirements to give out the sources of his information about the July 28 action at the Khimki administration. Oleg refused, and was later (on November 6, 2010) cruelly beaten - see below.
At least two detained anti-fascists (Emilju Baluev and Alexander Pahotin) were subjected to torture with the intention of forcing them to give the names of the participants in the action against the Khimki administration.
Not only antifascist activists were subjected to pressure. The family business of Evgenia Chirikova and Mikhail Matveev (a small engineering company) became an object of ruthless harrassment by police.
In August 2010 police sent a notice to their bank that the company was “suspected of financing of extremism”. The frightened bank provided police with all the info about their clients. Then such notices were sent to the majority of the company's clients. It inflicted huge damage to goodwill and reputation, and some clients were lost.
When the Head of the Security Committee of the State Duma Mr. Gudkov later sent an official request to police about all this activity, they answered (in February, 2011) that all the actions were taken in connection with the “attack” by antifascists. It was officially announced in this letter, that the company was cleared of suspicion. Nevertheless, pressure was resumed in 2011 – with the clear intention to frighten clients as well as to fabricate a criminal case (see below).
Video from Antifascist and Anarchist action in Khimki
Tortures - read more
Read more about repressions against antifascists
After the action of anti-fascists and anarchists near the Khimki administration building on July 28th, a serious crackdown began on participants of the anti-fascist movement.
Two anti-fascists – Alexey Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov - were arrested and spent three months in jail, without even judicial consideration of their case in essence.
The participation of Gaskarov and Solopov in the action is unproven. Nevertheless, they are officially accused of the crime of hooliganism., which can mean up to 7 years imprisonment.
