Man holding sign in support of jailed environmentalist prosecuted and transgender Italian with rainbow flag recalls brief custody
A solitary protester was detained by police at the Winter Olympics on Monday for staging an "illegal picket", and a transgender former Italian MP also claimed to have been briefly taken in to custody.
David Khakim was detained in Sochi and sentenced to 30 hours of community service in Sochi for holding a sign in support of jailed environmentalist Evgeny Vitishko.
"I felt obliged to come and protest. They've locked up an innocent man because he shouted about environmental violations, and everyone is silent," said Khakim outside the courtroom.
Solo pickets are allowed by Russia's constitution, but a special law brought in to cover the Olympics says would-be protesters must get permission. Khakim cycled to the spot in central Sochi where he wanted to protest, unfurled a poster that read "Free the environmental prisoner Evgeny Vitishko", and was detained by police within three minutes, he said. He said the International Olympic Committee, which has said Vitishko's case is "not Olympic-related", is misinformed.
There were no such problems with the police for a group of Russian hockey fans, who protested outside the US embassy in Moscow on Monday, complaining about the referee in Saturday's US-Russia ice hockey match, who disallowed a Russian goal that would have won the match.
The transgender former Italian MP Vladimir Luxuria said she had been detained in Sochi late on Sunday night, and was released in the early hours of Monday. Luxuria had been waving a rainbow flag carrying the slogan "Gay is OK" and said he was held in a room for several hours by police. Sochi police denied they had ever had an Italian national in custody, while the mayor of Sochi said at a press conference on Monday he had no information about the case.
Fog enveloped the mountains above Sochi delaying a number of events, with storms forecast for Tuesday that could cause further delays. Previously, the biggest meteorological problem has been the unseasonably warm weather. Organisers insisted on Monday that they had not yet been forced to use supplies of stored snow, despite the soaring temperatures. Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 days ago.
A solitary protester was detained by police at the Winter Olympics on Monday for staging an "illegal picket", and a transgender former Italian MP also claimed to have been briefly taken in to custody.
David Khakim was detained in Sochi and sentenced to 30 hours of community service in Sochi for holding a sign in support of jailed environmentalist Evgeny Vitishko.
"I felt obliged to come and protest. They've locked up an innocent man because he shouted about environmental violations, and everyone is silent," said Khakim outside the courtroom.
Solo pickets are allowed by Russia's constitution, but a special law brought in to cover the Olympics says would-be protesters must get permission. Khakim cycled to the spot in central Sochi where he wanted to protest, unfurled a poster that read "Free the environmental prisoner Evgeny Vitishko", and was detained by police within three minutes, he said. He said the International Olympic Committee, which has said Vitishko's case is "not Olympic-related", is misinformed.
There were no such problems with the police for a group of Russian hockey fans, who protested outside the US embassy in Moscow on Monday, complaining about the referee in Saturday's US-Russia ice hockey match, who disallowed a Russian goal that would have won the match.
The transgender former Italian MP Vladimir Luxuria said she had been detained in Sochi late on Sunday night, and was released in the early hours of Monday. Luxuria had been waving a rainbow flag carrying the slogan "Gay is OK" and said he was held in a room for several hours by police. Sochi police denied they had ever had an Italian national in custody, while the mayor of Sochi said at a press conference on Monday he had no information about the case.
Fog enveloped the mountains above Sochi delaying a number of events, with storms forecast for Tuesday that could cause further delays. Previously, the biggest meteorological problem has been the unseasonably warm weather. Organisers insisted on Monday that they had not yet been forced to use supplies of stored snow, despite the soaring temperatures. Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 days ago.