Dmitriy Monakhov is now in custody for disobeying a police officer

Sep 2, 2014 07:38 GMT  ·  By

It's not a secret that Russia doesn't like democratic protesters and this was amply demonstrated in the last few years. Now, it looks like one of the kernel developers has been arrested in Russia while he was protesting against Ukraine’s invasion.

Russia hasn't admitted sending troops and military aid to the separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, so you might see why someone protesting the invasion of another country could be considered an inconvenience. The kernel developer in question is Dmitriy Monakhov and he was arrested for a period of 15 days.

It wasn't something organized, he didn't have a sign, and he wasn't even distributing leaflets. He was just standing in a square, shouting his beliefs. The police quickly arrived and asked him to stop. He didn't and got 15 days in prison for disobeying a police officer. Considering what is happening between Russia and Ukraine, you might consider that it was just a slap on the wrist.

The information about the arrest of Dmitriy Monakhov was provided by another kernel developer and maintainer, Theodore Ts'o, on his Google+ page. "Linux Kernel developer Dmitry Monakhov (ext4, filesystems...) has been arrested in Moscow and put in jail for 15 days while protesting against the war in Ukraine despite him using no violence nor even leaflet. He was only talking out loud to people in the street..." said Theodore Ts'o.

To be clear, Dmitriy Monakhov was alone in the Manezh Square and he was just talking with passers-by. He accused Vladimir Putin of lying about the Russian intervention in Ukraine and he was saying that the Russian president should face charges. You can imagine that this doesn't sit too well with the authorities.

Most of the protests in Russia are usually disbanded before people get a chance to speak. The authorities often cite the fact that it's an unauthorized protest, but protesters don't receive authorizations for a protest against the government either way.

In case you didn't know this, Ukraine is now in the midst of a civil war. The separatists in the east of the country are facing the military, and technically, they should have been defeated by now, but it looks like Russia is sending troops and military equipment in the area. At least, this is what the Americans and NATO are saying.

We'll keep you apprised with any new information about Dmitriy Monakhov, if anything shows up on our radar.

Dmitriy Monakhov Arrested in Russia (14 Images)

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