Philip Kostenko

On December 6, 2011 Philip Kostenko, activist of the Russian human rights organization Memorial, began a hunger strike. He was arrested near Gostiny Dvor at the peaceful rally in St. Petersburg against widespread violations in the State Duma elections. He was charged with failure to follow a police officer’s orders (Article 19.3). His case was heard by Judge Alexei Kuznetsov, whom many oppositionists claim is known for accepting false statements from police officers and handing down harsh punishments. Kostenko was sentenced to 15 days in custody.  Another illegally arrested activist Victor Demyanenko joined Kostenko on the hunger strike. They demand

“releasing all protesters who were detained at the peaceful rallies on December 4-6”.

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