Four activists from the Femen women's movement were turned away from Pechersky District Court in Kyiv on Thursday after officials said there were no judges free to hear a case of criminal damage against them.
The activists said their case should have been heard at 1430 on Thursday. The day before, on Ukraine’s August 24 Independence Day, the four members of Femen were detained by the police for defacing a flower display planted in front of the building of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers.
The office of the main media liaisons of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry General Department in Kyiv told Interfax-Ukraine that the four activists had removed the prefix ‘in’ from a floral display reading "20 Years of Independence" changing it to "20 Years of Dependence". According to calculations made by housing and utilities services, the floral display cost Ukraine’s capital about UAH 10,000.
The four activists first attempted to enter the court at 1000 on Thursday, but were not admitted by the police. Later, at 1430, wearing flower wreaths on their heads, the four managed to pass through the police cordon near the archway that leads to the court building. However, they returned to tell journalists that court officials had told them no judge was free to hear their case. They showed reporters a copy of the charge sheet that had been issued to them by the police.
