A Russian man said he was detained while walking his dog in a Moscow park for violating the city’s coronavirus-induced quarantine.
Iisus Vorobyov said he was stopped by police April 4 at Patriarch Pond, a small park in a wealthy neighborhood near the center of Moscow, and faces arrest, TASS reported.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on March 29 put the city on near lockdown through April to fight the spread of the coronavirus.
Residents are only allowed to leave their apartments for specific needs, including going to work, seeking medical help, visiting the grocery store, and walking their dogs.
However, visiting parks and other recreational areas is forbidden. On April 2, Sobyanin signed a law imposing fines on violators.
Vorobyov said he was not the only one in the park. Workers are currently renovating a restaurant there, yet the police did not question them, he said.
The police said in a statement their officers warned Vorobyov several times that he was in violation of the quarantine regime.
The police claim Vorobyov at first ignored the officers and then argued with them. They took him to the station because he refused to identify them, his lawyer said.
Vladimir Burmatov, a member of the lower house of parliament representing the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, asked prosecutors to look into whether the officers overstepped their authority in detaining Vorobyov.
With reporting by TASS