Russian men who were arrested for mourning Vladimir Putin’s opposition Alexei Navalny have been told to “report to military” on release.
Those who were arrested for mourning Navalny in St. Petersburgh were told to report to the recruiting office at Moskovsky 95, where they are to be forced to sign summonses at the Military Commissariat, reported RUSNews.
A young man told the local media that he was taken into a room, he was told that if he does not sign the document to enlist for the frontline in Ukraine then his fingers will be broken.
The independent media outlet reported quoting a man who was given military papers after his release, “Two hours before release, we were taken into a room where some men were sitting and handing out summonses.
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“They said if we don’t sign, our fingers will be broken. They repeated all the time: ‘Well, will you go to fight for us?’”
Another man who was being held under administrative arrest was provided with a summons to register with the military.
The rest of the men were also provided with the document forcing them to enlist to “clarify their registration data” at the recruiting office.
Russian authorities had brutally suppressed the mourners of Navalny over the weekend who were paying their respects following his death.
Amnesty International said that around 387 peaceful mourners across 39 cities in Russia were arrested and detained for simply laying flowers.
In St Petersburgh at least 200 were arrested for paying their respects to Vladimir Putin’s opposition politician.
The Russian courts imposed an “administrative detentions” and at least 26 were accused of “disobeying a lawful order of a police officer”, “violation of the established procedure for organizing or holding an assembly” along with other alleged trumped up offences.
Oleg Kozlovsky, Amnesty International’s Russia Researcher said, “The Russian authorities have resorted to arbitrary arrests, excessive use of force and unlawful detentions of people across the country who are just trying to mourn Aleksei Navalny.
“These callous acts are not only shockingly insensitive, but they are also a flagrant violation of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
“In Surgut, Bakyt Karypbaev was allegedly tortured and otherwise ill-treated at the police station, including being beaten and having a gun pointed at his head for laying flowers.
“The case of human rights activist Oleg Filatchev, who was sentenced to 10 days of ‘administrative detention,’ along with the hospitalisation of Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko, a priest who had a stroke after police arrested him to halt his plan to hold a memorial service, are particularly distressing examples of the rampant injustice being inflicted on people who are trying to mourn Aleksei Navalny, a much-respected leader of Russia’s political opposition.
“These are not isolated incidents, but part of a country-wide campaign to silence dissent and instil fear across the nation.”
