August 22
- It became known that 66-year-old Jehovah’s Witness Lyubov Galitsyna was sent to a pre-trial detention center for 2 months. She is charged under the article on organizing the activities of an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
- In Moscow, the court extended the detention period of lawyer Dmitry Talantov until September 23. The lawyer of the journalist Ivan Safronov, accused of treason, was arrested in June under an article about the distribution of “fakes” about the Russian army.
- The defendant involved in the “anti-war case” Vladimir Sergeev was transferred from the Butyrka pre-trial detention center to a psychiatric hospital for examination. According to the investigation, Sergeev and another person involved in the same case Anton Zhuchkov wanted to set fire to a police van on Pushkin Square in Moscow in March.
August 23
- Voronezh activist Grigory Severin was sentenced to two years in a penal colony because of his post in VK.
- Nikita Chirkov from St. Petersburg was sentenced to a year of restriction of freedom under the article on vandalism motivated by political hatred: he allegedly put a crossed-out “Z” on the monument to Chernyshevsky.
- Criminal cases were opened against Navalny’s associates abroad for the dissemination of “fakes” about the army and the justification of terrorism. The reason was the broadcasts on the YouTube channel “Popular Politics.”
- An administrative protocol was drawn up against the Moscow municipal deputy Konstantin Yankauskas on “discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation” for publication of the pope’s prayer to end the war.
August 24
- It became known that on September 15, 2020, the administrator of the opposition Chechen telegram channel 1ADAT, Salman Tepsurkaev, was killed in Chechnya: a grenade was inserted into his mouth and blown up. In September 2020, the activist was abducted from a hotel in Gelendzhik. All this time, Tepsurkaev was considered missing.
- A criminal case was opened against the opposition politician and former mayor of Yekaterinburg Yevgeny Roizman for “discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation” (Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to Roizman, the reason for the initiation of the case was the expression “invasion of Ukraine,” which he repeatedly used. The apartment, the Roizman Foundation, and the Nevyansk Icon Museum were searched. The court chose a preventive measure for Roizman in the form of a ban on certain actions.
- According to OVD-info, for 6 months of the war in Ukraine:
- the security forces carried out at least 16,437 detentions in connection with the protests;
- 225 people became involved in the criminal “anti-war case”;
- 3,807 protocols were drawn up under the article on the “discrediting” of the army;
- 7,000 sites have been blocked;
- at least 27 media outlets have stopped working;
- 74 new “foreign agents” and 15 “undesirable organizations” were added to the registers.
- An infectious disease doctor from Sochi, Evgeny Zolotov, was fined 3,000,000 rubles in the case of “fakes” about the army (part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) because of comments on Facebook.
- The “Citizens of the USSR” were recognized as an extremist organization. The participants of this movement believe that the Soviet Union still exists, recognize Russia as an illegitimate state, and refuse to comply with the laws of the Russian Federation.
- In Moscow, a court fined blogger and journalist Karen Shainyan 10,000 rubles under the article on failure to fulfill the duties of a “foreign agent” (part 1 of Article 19.34.1 of the Administrative Code).
August 25
- The FSB reported on the detention of a Kaliningrad citizen who planned terrorist attacks at the Baltic Fleet facilities and the Khrabrovo airport “on instructions from Azov.”
- In Sevastopol, Jehovah’s Witnesses were searched. A criminal case has been opened against 53-year-old Viktor Kudinov and 51-year-old Sergei Zhigalov. Believers have been arrested.
- In Kemerovo, security forces detained and interrogated a former employee of the politician’s headquarters, Elizaveta Slavinskaya, in the case against Alexei Navalny.
- In the Moscow region, left-wing activists Olga Mason, Dmitry Kozhenev, and Alexander Parshinov were searched. Activists were interrogated as witnesses in the case of Belarusian lawyer Alexander Kapshul. He is charged with participating in the organization “Rabochii Rukh” and assisting foreign states.
- In Moscow, three candidates for municipal deputies Anna Shatunovskaya-Byurno, Nikolai Kasyan, and Tatiana Kasimova were convicted under the article on the demonstration of extremist symbols (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code), thus depriving them of the opportunity to be elected.
August 26
- The court in Saransk sentenced six Jehovah’s Witnesses to real terms. Vladimir Atryakhin was found guilty under part 1 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of the activities of an extremist organization) and sentenced to 6 years in a general regime colony. Georgy and Natalia Nikulin were found guilty under Parts 1.1 and 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (involvement in the activities of an extremist organization and participation in it). They were sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in a general regime colony. Denis Antonov, Alexander Korolev, and Alexander Shevchuk were assigned 2 years in a general regime colony under Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation in the activities of an extremist organization).
- The apartment of the parents of the ex-coordinator of Navalny’s headquarters in Lipetsk, Ilya Danilov, was searched in the case of “discrediting the army” (Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Danilov is outside of Russia.
- Igor Paskar, a defendant in the case of the FSB arson in Krasnodar, was charged with vandalism motivated by political hatred (Part 2 of Article 214 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) due to damage to the Z-banner.
- In the Arkhangelsk region, civil activists and defenders of Shies Marina Dzyuba and her husband Valery were searched. At the Shies station in the Arkhangelsk region, it was planned to build a landfill to import garbage from Moscow into the area. Local residents opposed the construction, organized shifts, and blocked the roads to the station. Because of this, they began to be persecuted by the security forces.
- In Moscow, a court found two participants of the rally in support of Alexei Navalny guilty of property damage on January 23, 2021 (Part 2 of Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Serafim Kravchuk and Timur Tsai were sentenced to 2 years of probation each.
- In Kursk, the FSB detained a citizen of Ukraine suspected of collecting compromising material on the military (Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
- According to the “Network freedoms,” Barnaul investigators plan to conduct 100 interrogations in the case of military “fakes” because ‑of posts in the telegram‑channel “Anti-Putin.”
August 27
- In Moscow, a criminal case was opened against Alexander Nizamov under the article on vandalism committed by a group of persons motivated by hatred (Part 2 of Article 214 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The reason was the red liquid that Nizamov poured into the fountain “Music of Glory” on August 24.
- In Essentuki, the court sentenced the person involved in the “Ingush case,” sign language interpreter Ramazan Dugiev to 1.5 years of probation. He was found guilty of using violence against a representative of the authorities (Part 1 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) during a rally in Magas in March 2019.
- In St. Petersburg, a court seized the property of the former coordinator of Navalny’s headquarters Irina Fatyanova to provide compensation for the work of the police at protest actions. Fatyanova denied the statement about the arrest of real estate, saying that she did not have any property. The activist is outside of Russia.
August 28
- In Yakutia, a criminal case was opened against the 30-year-old vocalist of the punk band Crispy Newspaper Aikhal Ammosov (Igor Ivanov) under the article on “discrediting the army” (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The reason for the initiation of the case was the anti-war banner “Yakutian punk against war,” which Ammosov and his girlfriend tried to hang on a building in the city center.
O Wolną Rosję/Memorial Support Center for Political Prisoners
Photo: Radio Svoboda
