Ministry of Internal Affairs: pull the voter out of the booth

The Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in St. Petersburg did not find any wrongdoing in the actions of the policemen who, on the day of the Russian presidential election on March 17, dragged the voter out of the booth, suspecting him of tampering with the ballot.

In the response of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the results of the conducted inspection, which was received by the deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, Borys Vyshnevsky, it is said that the police officers on duty at the stations “did not allow exceeding their official powers and violating the rights of citizens.” Vyshnevsky passed the answer he received to the “Fontanka” publication.

The incident took place at plot #1136 in the Krasnoselsky district of St. Petersburg. One of the policemen suspected that the voter in the booth had spoiled the ballot and photographed it, pulled the voter out of the booth and demanded that he show the ballot. At the same time, Russian legislation provides for secret voting, and tampering with the ballots issued to voters is not prohibited by law.

During the voting, several dozens of cases were recorded when people asked to pour ballots into the ballot box with green paint or set fire to the ballot boxes. However, there are also known cases of persecution of people who defaced not other people’s ballots, but only their own, in particular, wrote anti-war slogans or insults to the authorities on them. There are known cases of bringing such voters to administrative responsibility under the article on discrediting the army.