Ecologists who blocked highway in Sochi fined

On August 21, the magistrate court fined the ecologists detained at blocking the construction in Sochi of the Adler-Krasnaya Polyana highway by 500 roubles each.

In the opinion of one of them - Andrei Rudomakha, leader of the Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus, - the "considerable resonance" after detention of the ecologists hampered the court to apply the maximum punishment to the detainees - arrest for 15 days.

"When we sat in custody in the evening and in the morning before the trial in the cell of the "Blinovo" police station, we heard that people were permanently calling the on duty unit behind the door asking about us," Mr Rudomakha has noted. "The actions of our supporters have demonstrated to the court that our detention had caused a broad public resonance; and if we're convicted on absolutely false grounds to 15 days, it will provoke an enormous public scandal."

The ecologist notes that they had deliberately gone to detention. "We decided to do it," he has explained, "when we saw that the militia supports those who commit an absolutely obvious ecological crime. We wished to draw additional public attention to the problem of scandalous lawlessness, committed at the background of preparing for the 2014 Olympic Games."