it's minus 15 degrees celsius
and herman has been on his feet since 6
a.m
he's one of dozens of people waiting to
give parcels to the inmates of the
sacharova detention center
hermann is here for his flatmates
fidlanatsvitkova
she was sentenced to five days for
participating in anti-government
protests in moscow
we've collected warm clothes here's a
sweater
and a blanket
tears those are my friends in there
over 7 000 people have been arrested
since the protests began
the police have been especially brutal
in moscow and saint petersburg
they've even taken people away who had
nothing to do with the protests
just because they happened to be in the
area
this group of young people had to sit in
a freezing police van for seven
hours they were told there wasn't enough
space in the jails for them
these images show conditions in the
sacha rova detention center near moscow
overcrowded cells inmates having to
share the bare metal beds
there's an open latrine right there in
the room
herman's flatmate svetlana tsvetkova
also had to endure these conditions
after five days svetlana is released
she's relieved to be back at home with
herman in their kitchen
she says she wasn't able to contact the
outside world during her incarceration
and was overjoyed to receive hermann's
parcel
she shows us a video from when she was
arrested
she and other protesters were standing
in front of the jail where opposition
activist alexei navalny was being
detained
the police surrounded them and arrested
them one by one
[Music]
someone i'm close to whom i care for
was kidnapped even if they arrested a
legal basis
it was totally unacceptable from a
humanitarian viewpoint
we're law-abiding citizens we respect
our constitution
we're not doing anything that's
prohibited and suddenly this happens
on top of that we're told it's right no
it's wrong
it's simply awful svetlana tells us she
didn't get
anything to eat for the first three days
after her arrest
because she was taken from one police
station to the next and nobody felt
responsible
she was so tense the whole time that
she's only just begun to realize how
inhumane the situation was
like many other protesters hermann and
svetlana did not take to the streets
only because navalny was arrested
they were demonstrating against the
current political system more generally
and then try to tell us how to behave
this system is wrong
many of the saharaova detainees have now
been released
and they think much the same way many
want to take to the streets again to
protest
against the system