24 participants in the protests in support of Navalny remain in custody

24 participants of protests in support of opposition politician Alexei Navalny remain in Russian colonies and pre-trial detention centers. Another twenty were released, having served their terms. This follows from the infographic “OVD-Info”, published on the second anniversary of large-scale protests in Russia.

At rallies in support of Navalny, who was arrested in January 2021, when he returned to Russia after treatment for the effects of poisoning, almost twenty thousand people were detained. Criminal cases were opened against 186 of them in 41 regions of Russia. This was the largest wave of political repression in modern Russia before the start of the war with Ukraine, notes “OVD-Info”.

Most of those who are still in custody have been charged under the article for using violence against police officers – mostly harmless to their life and health or for threats of such violence. Two more remain in pre-trial detention centers or colonies on charges of property damage: one, according to the investigation, set fire to a Russian Guard car, the other kicked and threw snowballs at an FSB car.

Against several more serving sentences, including Alexei Navalny, cases were initiated under the article on the organization of extremist communities, which the Russian authorities recognized as the Fund for Combating Corruption and Navalny’s Headquarters.

Among all 186 defendants in criminal cases, more than 80% are men, including eight minors. In Moscow, cases were opened for 55 people – more than for residents of other regions of Russia. Five people reported torture.

• After being poisoned with “Novichok” poison in August 2020, Alexei Navalny was undergoing treatment in Berlin. In early 2021, the politician returned to Russia, where he was detained right at the airport.
• First, Navalny was replaced with a suspended sentence in the Yves Roche case, and then tried in the case of defamation of a veteran (sentenced to a fine) and in the case of fraud and insulting a judge (sentenced to nine years in prison).
• The politician is serving his term in the Vladimir region. In mid-June 2022, Navalny was transferred from the general-regime colony in Pokrovo to the strict-regime colony in Melekhov. Navalny and his supporters call their criminal prosecution political.
• During Navalny’s stay in the colony, the Russian authorities actually completely destroyed political structures associated with the opposition. The politician’s headquarters and the Anti-Corruption Fund organized by him were declared “extremist organizations” and banned in Russia, dozens of their members are either under arrest or forced to leave Russia.