In the Russian city of Perm, singer Ekaterina Romanova, who organised a solidarity concert with the group “Stoptime”, was arrested for seven days for “refusing to be examined for drug intoxication”, Sotavision reported.
During the court hearing, Romanova’s defence lawyer said that the girl had initially agreed to the examination, but the police began to persuade her to refuse without warning her of the consequences.
On October 22, the girl held a concert in the centre of Perm, where she performed songs by the groups “Kino”, “Civil Defense”, as well as the song “light streak”, written by “foreign agent” Noize MC. Romanova announced a second performance, but cancelled it. Despite this, on the day of the cancelled concert she was detained by the police, in the department in respect of the singer drew up a report on the “organization of mass stay of people in a public place”.
The musicians of “Stoptime” played songs of famous Russian musicians – Monetochka, Noize MC, Zemfira – on the streets of St. Petersburg. The Russian authorities have declared these performers “foreign agents”, but the Stoptime case is the first time that people have been prosecuted for publicly performing the music of “foreign agents”. Diana Loginova, in addition to being arrested for “organising a mass gathering of people”, was fined 30,000 roubles: the court ruled that her performance of Monetochka’s song “you are a soldier” was “discrediting” the Russian army.