Police officers kept the grandmother of activist Timofey Ilyushin in a police car for the entirety of the New Year’s night, the activist tells human rights project OVD-Info and media outlet Sotavision.
According to Ilyushin, on 31 December, a police officer came to the flat in the Nakhabino village, where the activist is registered. The only person at home was his grandmother. The woman was threatened with a criminal case on making false statements being initiated against her in case her grandson did not show up to the police department. The activist himself left Russia in the summer.
Then, the woman was detained. She spent the New Year’s night in a police car where her arms were twisted behind her back by the officers and she was threatened with criminal cases on “discrediting” the Russian army and “fake news” against the Russian army being opened against her because of Ilyushin’s social media posts.
The woman also did not manage to lock her flat, and while she was held in the police car, the law enforcement agents seized a laptop, a system unit, and political materials from the flat.
Eventually, the activist’s grandmother was allowed to go home at 8 AM on a promise to appear at the police department on 2 January.
Ilyushin says that in 2022 he was detained over five times, was arrested for ten days for calling upon others to go to a rally against the war in Ukraine, and was beaten up for his anti-war position.
