Watchdog

PHOTO GALLERY: Police remove protesters from the Solovetsky Stone monument to victims of Soviet secret services in Moscow.

A motley band of bearded and unkempt activists from the unregistered Other Russia party have become the latest addition to Russia's offbeat opposition protest scene.

Since July 17, they have attempted every day to hold a sit-in protest at Solovetsky Stone, a monument to victims of the Soviet secret services outside the Federal Security Service's (FSB) central Moscow headquarters.

The protest has been forcefully dispersed every time.

The activists' goal: to campaign for the Russian authorities to set free Taisia Osipova whom activists believe to be a political prisoner jailed as a way of getting to her husband, a senior member of the Other Russia opposition group.

The consequences of their protest: at least 80 protesters have so far been dragged away from the stone and detained this week. Some of them have been beaten and one has even been hospitalized, according to "Novaya gazeta." "I became unwell and lost consciousness," one of the detained said.

"Novaya gazeta" has other photos of the arrest of activists on July 17 and July 18.

Murky Drugs Charges

Gazeta.ru reports that the police have taken a tough line with the activists because they could "commit acts of terrorism."

Osipova, 25, was arrested in November on murky charges of drug trafficking after the police said they found heroin in her apartment. The charges carry 10 years behind bars. Osipova has a five year old daughter.

Many opposition activists believe the drugs were planted by police from Smolensk's extremism department (Center E) hoping to put pressure on her husband, Sergei Fomchenko.

Clearly no stranger to brash provocation of the authorities herself, Osipova once threw a bouquet of flowers in the face of the Smolensk governor in 2003.

Her case had been under way in a Smolensk court and a verdict had been expected as early as July 21. Now the case has been postponed until the middle of August, which the opposition explains through the lack of evidence.

Osipova has become a minor cause celebre for Russia's opposition. The Solidarity movement has joined the protests at Solovetsky Stone. The Voina street art group has also championed her cause and contributed money to her legal battle.

On the afternoon of July 21, there was no trace of the sit-in protesters. Instead there were two police buses parked right by the stone, and the small park around it is sealed off.


Nearby, two young teenage girls were hurriedly plastering Lubyanka's underground walkways with posters of Osipova's daughter under the caption: "My mom was taken by the police."

Beneath the photo is a link to a website: spasem.org. The site features various videos of Other Russia activists being detained at the protest this week.

The girls were sure that the protest would happen on July 22, but could not confirm more than that.

"I don’t know what time they’re coming," said the older of the two, making a kicking motion with her feet. "They never let anyone know. But there’s meant to be three or four groups coming today. You should have seen it yesterday."

-- Tom Balmforth

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A prominent Kazakh journalist says her online news portal, guljan.org, has been blocked since it suffered a massive hacker attack, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

Gulzhan Ergalieva, the website's founder and owner, told journalists in Almaty on July 21 that her website has been under attack since July 15. She said the attack was likely connected to the content on the website.

Ergalieva added that she had sent letters to the major Internet provider in Kazkahstan, KazakhTelecom, and the Communications and Information Ministry to urge them to find the attackers and "neutralize" them.

She said she has also asked international Internet organizations to assist her in resolving the problem.

Ergalieva had launched her online news portal last month. The new project received mixed reviews from readers after the 59-year-old journalist promoted her new project with a promotional campaign called "The Naked Truth Is Better Than A Dressed-Up Lie" that culminated in a racy online video.

In January, Ergalieva stepped down as the chief editor of the Kazakh newspaper "Svoboda Slova," which has been critical of the government. She said her resignation was motivated by the campaign for a referendum to prolong President Nursultan Nazarbaev's term in office until 2020.

Ergalieva founded "Svoboda Slova" in 2005 and had served as its chief editor until her resignation.

In 2001, a group of masked men broke into her Almaty apartment, beat her, and tied her up before torturing her husband in front of her for several hours, leaving him handicapped. The attackers were never found.

Ergalieva and her colleagues say the attack was organized by officials in retaliation for her critical articles about the country's political, social, and economic situation.

Read more in Russian here