On May 12, Kasparov.ru correspondent Viktor Shamaev was covering a protest in Penza held under the Day of Wrath campaign. Organizers say these protests are meant to provide a day for Russians to voice their collective grievances against federal and local officials, and participants routinely include human rights activists, political oppositionists, environmental activists, and others. Local authorities often refuse to grant permission for Day of Wrath rallies, which are subsequently cracked down on by police. Yesterday’s Day of Wrath participants in Penza held solitary pickets, the only legal form of non-government-approved protest in Russia.

Immediately after Shamaev photographed local Left Front coordinator Yevgeny Makeyenko picketing outside the mayor’s office, a deputy chief from Penza Police Station #1 sent a lieutenant to ask the journalist to follow him to his car. When the officer smelled an empty can of beer, he took Shamaev to a detox center, and then to a police station where the journalist was held for three hours.

It is not clear what exactly Shamaev was charged with, but according to Kasparov.ru, he had to sign all papers presented to him by police, ostensibly admitting his guilt, since he needed to take his infant child home.

Additionally, the website reports that the lieutenant who detained Shamaev told him in a private discussion that he was “ordered to take Shamaev.”

Shamaev worked for the police before becoming a correspondent for Kasparov.ru in 2006. Law enforcement agents have repeatedly interrogated him in connection with various incidents and have attempted to arrest him several times. For example, Shamaev was questioned in November 2009 about the arson of the Penza United Russia office on the basis that he was among the first journalists to arrive at the scene. Human rights activists expressed concern at the treatment of oppositionists during the investigation.

The victims, students who are not ethnically Slavic, hail from the Middle East, India, and Turkmenistan. One student remains hospitalized, and will have permanent scarring to his face. He told investigators that three young people jumped him in a local park in broad daylight.

The assailants have been described by other victims as young Slavic men, dressed in all black with covered faces. It was unclear whether the attacks were connected, although the victims described their attackers similarly. Separate assaults on Russian nationals from the Caucasus mountain regions have also been reported.

Law enforcement officials are conducting an investigation, but have not yet apprehended any suspects.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev, the man likely to sweep presidential elections in March, landed quietly in the city of Penza on Wednesday. So quietly, in fact, that town residents only learned of a Presidential visit when workers started fervently washing light-poles in the city center. Once Putin and his protégé arrived, their presidential motorcade drove down streets cleaned of rubbish, dirt, and, it turns out, opposition activists.

Starting early in the morning, militsiya officers in Penza began detaining and arresting youth leaders from a whole series of opposition organizations and political parties. According to the Sobkor®ru news agency, large numbers of activists from the liberal Yabloko party and the Oborona youth movement are currently being held at various police stations around the city. No explanation has been given for the detentions, and no charges have been filed.

One of the youths, Alexei Pavlutkin, is well-known for throwing an egg at Putin’s motorcade in 2005.

A number of other activists are being held under house arrest. Student members of the Union of Communist Youth have been told to stay in their educational institutions, under watch of school management. Militsiya officers have also been sent to keep track of specific members of the opposition at their places of employment.

It should be noted that no demonstrations or political actions were planned by the opposition groups for the presidential visit. Leaders have pledged to challenge the illegal detentions and file a case with the regional prosecutor.