MOSCOW. Jan 27 (Interfax) - A criminal investigation has been opened against certain participants in the unauthorized demonstrations that took place in Moscow on January 23, on counts of violating epidemiological rules, the Russian Interior Ministry said.
"It has been established that the organizers and participants in the unauthorized demonstration provoked the threat of spreading the novel coronavirus infection. For instance, people who were ordered to self-isolate at their place of residence after being diagnosed with this disease were among the participants in the demonstration on Pushkin Square in Moscow," Interior Ministry spokesperson Irina Volk told reporters.
"On January 23, the investigative unit of the Russian Interior Ministry's branch for the city of Moscow opened a criminal case on a count of violating sanitary-epidemiological rules, thus accidentally causing a large number of people to contract the disease or be poisoned or posing the threat of this (Part 1 of Article 236 of the Russian Criminal Code)," Volk said, adding that this offense carries up to two years in prison.
Volk said a criminal case has been opened in Moscow against a group of persons who took part in the unauthorized event based on the disabling of road vehicles and communication lines. "It was established during the preliminary investigation that they deliberately blocked transport infrastructure facilities in central Moscow, including on Tverskaya Street, Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street, Strastnoi Boulevard, Tvsetnoi Boulevard, etc., under the event organizers' guidance," she said.
"A similar criminal case was opened on January 23 by the Investigative Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry's Directorate for the Central District of St. Petersburg. A group of people stepped into the road on St. Petersburg's Malaya Morskaya Street, obstructing traffic and causing drivers to stop abruptly. Moving in a crowd, the protesters created a real threat to people's lives, health, and safety," Volk said.
A criminal case was also opened based on the article dealing with deliberate blocking of transport infrastructure in Vladivostok. According to the police, a group of persons used the Internet to organize on the city's central square a meeting of citizens who blocked traffic on Svetlanskaya, Aleutskaya, and Semyonovskaya Street and Okeansky Avenue. "Through their actions, they obstructed the functioning of city transport, in particular, they complicated the timely provision of emergency medical assistance to the city's residents," Volk said.
The Investigative Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry's Directorate for Izhevsk also opened a criminal case based on actions posing a threat to the safe operation of road vehicles.
"The police registered a mass exodus of people onto the city's streets, motivated by hooliganism. As a result of those actions, transportation was halted on Pushkinskaya, Sovetskaya, Kommunarov, and Krasnogeroiskaya Street, and people's safety was jeopardized," Volk said.
Unauthorized protests in support of opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who was arrested following his return to Russia from Germany, were held in many cities of the country, including Moscow, on January 23. Moscow Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Potyayeva said more than 1,000 people were detained.
According to information possessed by Russian Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko, more than 15 people have been detained in Russia's regions on suspicion of crimes committed at January 23 protests, and 21 criminal cases have been opened.