Artem Loskutov

He is an artist and organiser of "Monstrations" - actions with absurd slogans.

According to Loskutov, on May 1, 2009, he was invited for a "talk" at the Centre “E” (“Centre for Combating Extremism”), where the head of the Centre spent several hours explaining why the Monstrations organized by Loskutov wasn't liked by the Centre “E”. Subsequently, Centre "E" refused to acknowledge the fact of the conversation and presented data according to which Loskutov was allegedly committing some administrative offences at that time, although the fact of Loskutov's presence in Centre "E" can be confirmed by two witnesses who came there together with him. On May 15, Loskutov was again tried to be summoned to the Centre "E" for a conversation, but he refused, citing the absence of a summons.

On the evening of May 15, three men in civilian clothes suddenly surrounded Loskutov and his friend Lubov Belyatskaya in the street, handcuffed Loskutov and forcibly put him into an ordinary car without presenting any documents, charges or demands. Loskutov was taken to a community courtyard, where his attackers began to talk to him about the "Monstration" and then, after waiting for their witnesses to arrive, examined Loskutov's bag and found 11 grams of marijuana in it. On 20 May, the court imposed detention as a preventive measure. No legal evidence of guilt was presented - only the information from the Centre "E" about alleged extremist activity, which was not proved and confirmed by any documents. On 25 May 2009 Loskutov filed an appeal against the court's decision. On the day of supposed court hearing, the date was postponed to 10 June. Since 10 June 2009, he has been on his own recognisance. He was charged with illegal acquisition, storage, transportation, manufacture, processing of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues. He was sentenced to a fine of 20,000 roubles (ca US$200).

On 3 November 2010 Loskutov reported that preliminary investigation was being conducted against him. He suggested that the police did not like the fact that he compared their methods to those of fascist, when they roughly dragged him into the car during his arrest on 26 September. Maria Kiseleva, who was detained together with him, wrote a statement to the prosecutor's office. The response, which came on 3 November, stated that the prosecutor's office found no violations in the actions of the police, but informed the applicant that an inspection was being conducted.

On December 13, it became known that a case had been initiated for insulting a representative of authority. Loskutov was declared wanted. On November 22, 2012, the court confirmed the announcement of the wanted status for him. Although Loskutov was not in hiding, the court refused to arrest him. The case was closed due to the expiration of the statute of limitations on 4 March 2013.