Penza, 7 May 2013. PenzaNews. About twenty members of opposition participated in a protest against political repressions which took place in a park near the palace of culture named after F. Dzerzhinsky in Penza on Monday evening, May 6.

“The day was not chosen by chance. May 6, 2012 is inscribed in Russian history as the day of crackdown on protesters on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow, when hundreds of people were detained by the police. We came here to remind the authorities about the events, the need to comply with the constitutional rights and to demand the immediate release of all prisoners from Bolotnaya Square,” one of the protesters commented to news agency “PenzaNews.”

According to him, the participants were not as numerous as planned, but this was due to the fact that some of the opposition representatives went to Moscow to take part in a rally on Bolotnaya Square.

“We are sure that those people who were arrested on Bolotnaya Square on May 6, 2012, are innocent. They must be released. The criminal cases filed for the opposition representatives have a political connotation. This is unacceptable in a state of law. However, the main problem lies in the fact that the government seems to have stopped listening to the society, and the society reacted to this situation. That is why we are here, expressing our dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in both the Penza region, and the country as a whole,” the agency interlocutor explained.

The protest in Penza, which lasted for about an hour passed without incidents, none of the participants was detained by law enforcement officers.

As news agency PenzaNews reported earlier, the Bolotnaya square case was instituted after the events of May 6, 2012, when the government-sanctioned opposition rally on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow escalated into clashes with police. On that day over 400 people were detained, ten people were injured, about 30 police officers applied for medical help.

Currently, 19 people are listed as defendants on the Bolotnaya square case, and one suspect is wanted.