Seizure of the banner on the instructions of Senior Public Prosecutor Raupach
On the first day of the elections to the Russian State Duma, Senior Public Prosecutor Raupach ordered the immediate seizure of the “Putin is a Killer” banner and the figure of Putin at the notified vigil outside the Russian embassy. The police officer carrying out the order stated that it had been maintained regardless of any objection.
The officer supported a proposal to mark the inscription as a quotation by adding quotation marks, but the public prosecutor’s office did not accept it.
Comment — assessment by Dmitry Bagrash
A public prosecutor’s office may seize property without a judicial order only in cases of Gefahr im Verzug (danger arising from delay), and must obtain judicial confirmation within three days. What was so urgent about an election poster outside an embassy remains unclear — unless it was about the Russian elections themselves.