Yekaterinburg man sentenced to eight days in jail for laying flowers at memorial to protest mobilization

A Yekaterinburg court has sentenced a local man named Albert Yakupov to eight days in jail after he was detained this weekend for placing flowers at the city’s Black Tulip war memorial, the outlet It’s My City reported on Sunday.

Yakupov was charged with organizing a public event without notifying the authorities. According to a police report, Yakupov called on Yekaterinburg residents to attend an unauthorized protest at the memorial to “demand full demobilization and an end to the special military operation.” The authorities considered him the protest’s organizer because he posted several messages in Telegram chat groups that included the time and location of the demonstration.

According to human rights advocates, five people were arrested at the Black Tulip monument on Saturday. In addition to Yakupov, two people were charged with violating protest rules.

The Way Home, a Telegram channel run by Russian women calling for their mobilized husbands to be sent home from the war in Ukraine, holds regular flower-laying demonstrations on Saturdays.