Activist Pavel Krisevich has been detained

Activist Pavel Krisevich has been detained and is out of contact, his support group reported.

The circumstances and reasons for the detention are unknown.

In September, the Mytishchi District Court in Moscow region jailed Krisevich for 10 days under the charge of disobeying police, after he refused to present his passport to officers. Later, the Moscow Regional Court overturned the arrest order, and the Mytishchi District Court closed the case due to the absence of an offence.

Earlier this year, Pavel was released after spending about three and a half years in prison over his performance on Red Square, where the activist fired a blank round at his own head to draw attention to the plight of those facing political persecution.

On 1 December, Pavel Krisevich was arrested for 15 days on charges of petty hooliganism (Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). This was reported by the project “Word in Defence.”

The activist was accused of swearing in a public place. The reason for the detention was a cowboy-themed photo shoot on a monument rocket in Istra, a town near Moscow. The photo shoot was intended as a reference to Stanley Kubrick’s film Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, released at the height of the Cold War.

Krisevich was detained almost immediately after the event began. The activist believes they were under surveillance.