A human rights activist stands in St.Petersburg's central square with a poster reading: "No to Cover.....
A human rights activist stands in St.Petersburg's central square with a poster reading: "No to Covering Up Crimes in Army!" during a protest February 2, 2006. The protest was staged after Russian army conscript Andrei Sychev, 19, was set upon in the New Year holiday in an Ural mountain tank academy by drunken soldiers, who reports say, held him semi-crouched for several hours and beat him. Sychev was given delayed - some say botched - medical help that allowed gangrene to develop and led to amputations of his legs, genitals and fingers.