Four representatives of international rights organizations, who arrived in Nizhny Novgorod last week to join a conference commemorating Russian reporter Anna Politkovskaya, have been fined 3,000 to 5,000 rubles.
"The foreigners have been fined for alleged violations of the rules of stay in Russia," Oksana Cheusheva, a representative of the Other Russia's local branch, the organizer of the conference which has not taken place, told Interfax on Sunday.
Police detained Other Russia representatives and four members of international human rights organizations for ID checks on Saturday. Charges of administrative offences were brought against the foreigners, she said.
All of them will appeal through their embassies within ten days, she added.
She said she did not know when the foreign rights activists' visas would expire, noting that they would most likely leave Russia and use lawyers' services to defend their rights.
No official comments are available to Interfax from the judiciary or law enforcement services.
Earlier reports said, citing a member of the Memorial human rights center and head of the Civil Assistance Committee Svetlana Gannushkina, that five foreign rights activists were detained in Nizhny Novgorod on Saturday on charges of administrative offences.
The office of Oksana Chelysheva, the head of the Tolerance Foundation, was searched.
The conference was to commemorate Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya, murdered a year ago.