Lawyer Anastasia Georgievskaya (Samorukova) wrote on Facebook that on September 10, upon entering SIZO-4, a female staff member demanded that she remove her bra after the metal detector went off in the chest area. According to her, no separate room for the search was provided, and she had to undress right in the passageway, under cameras and in the presence of other lawyers, who were asked to turn away.
Before her, Georgievskaya claims, a male lawyer was forced to unbutton his fly and undergo a search with his trousers lowered. Another female lawyer refused to remove her underwear and was unable to get to her client, although she had spent about an hour and a half in line beforehand.
Lawyer Danila Boldyrev told “Ostorozhno, novosti” that the requirements for lawyers in “Medved” have been tightened since the beginning of the week. According to him, women are now forced to remove their bras, and men — belts and items with rivets. Those who refuse to comply with the requirements are not allowed inside.
Boldyrev linked the tightening to the fact that a mobile phone was allegedly smuggled into the detention center. Human rights activist and member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights Eva Merkacheva wrote that the Moscow Bar Association has already sent a request to the capital's FSIN department demanding an explanation of what is happening, and she herself has also contacted the FSIN directorate.
According to her data, the Moscow FSIN did not send any new general requirements on searches of lawyers to Moscow detention centers. Lawyer and human rights activist Nikolai Polozov stated that during a routine entry, an incomplete search is carried out without removing clothing, and a full search should not include removing underwear and should be conducted in a separate room or behind a screen, by an employee of the same sex and without outsiders.
Former lead analyst of the Moscow FSIN Anna Karetnikova also referred to the internal regulations of the detention center and said that during a routine entry into the restricted area, an incomplete search is conducted, while a full search is permitted only when someone is detained for transferring or attempting to transfer prohibited items, or in the case of a planned or ongoing crime. She added that investigators in their own cases and persons who have the right to control and supervise the detention center are exempt from searches.
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