Kemerovo activist Piskunov was detained by Russian border guards

Kemerovo activist and former head of the local branch of the “Voice” movement for fair elections, Sergei Piskunov, was detained by Russian border guards at the Veseloyarsk checkpoint in Altai Krai. This was reported to Sibir.Realia by his friends. According to reports, a criminal case has been initiated against Pyskunov under the article on the organization of an extremist community.

According to the source of Sibir.Realii, Pyskunov probably planned to leave for Kazakhstan. OVD-Info was the first to report the detention, with reference to the chairman of the Novokuznetsk branch of the “Yabloko” party, Denys Shakin.

Now the activist was handed over to the police and taken to Rubtsovsk. A trial will be held today to select a restraining order.

On February 10, the police searched Pyskunov’s home in the village of Gramoteino, where he lives with his grandmother, as part of a criminal case on the organization of an extremist community.

“On that day, he was detained. The police took him to Gramoteino, and then they conducted a search. They thought they would already be detained. But in the evening they released Sergei, only the phone was taken,” Pyskunov’s friends reported, noting that the grounds on which the case was opened still unknown.

The press service of the local branch of the “Yabloko” party believes that the reason for the criminal case against Pyskunov was his online application to the administration about holding a single action against the “proceedings of the presidential election company”. After the search, Pyskunov was given a written warning about the inadmissibility of holding any public events.

• Sergey Piskunov – ex-coordinator of the public movement for honest elections “Voice” in the Kemerovo region. On September 29, 2021, the Ministry of Justice entered him into the register of “media – foreign agents”. Later, Pyskunov reported that he was entered into the register due to the transfer of 9,222 rubles from the “League of Voters” in 2020 and 950 rubles received from an unknown resident of Tajikistan in 2021. In 2022, Pyskunova was refused to withdraw her status. In 2023, he was fined twice for failure to submit a “foreign agency” report and lack of marking on publications.