Alexei Abanin / Twitter via AP
Olga Misik sits in front of police officers during an unsanctioned rally in the center of Moscow, July 27, 2019.
Olga Misik, a 19-year-old journalism student at Moscow University, is facing up to two years behind bars for peaceful protest. Many Russians know Misik as “the girl with the constitution”: Two years ago, when she was still in secondary school, Misik was active in mass protests that demanded access to the ballot for opposition politician Alexei Navalny and members of his movement.
The state marshaled its special forces troops, lining them up several deep in order to contain the protesters. Misik would bring a copy of the Russian Constitution and sit on the pavement in front of the soldiers to read the law aloud to them.