Rights defender reports detentions at monument to repression victims in Astrakhan

A young woman from Astrakhan, an activist of the "Russia behind Bars" (Rus Sidyaschaya) Fund*, was detained after laying flowers at the monument to victims of political repressions, Olga Romanova**, a human rights defender and the head of the Fund, has reported. According to her story, law enforcers detained at least three other persons. She has added that when the above young woman came up with flowers to the monument, there were no people there. "She turns off her camera, turns around and sees three men running up across the lawn to her. They tied her up and threw the flowers away," Romanova** wrote in her Telegram channel.

According to human rights defenders, overall 21 people were detained in Russian cities because of Alexei Navalny's funeral; about half of the detainees had tried to get to his farewell ceremony in Moscow.

*Charitable Fund for Helping Convicts and Their Families. On March 26, 2018, the Fund received an EU grant for opening the so-called "judicial clinics" in Russian regions, and it applied on its own for inclusion into the roster of foreign agents. On May 7, 2018, the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) added the Fund to the roster.

**Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.