Navalny’s ex-chief of staff disagrees with the charge of extremism

The trial of the former coordinator of Navalny’s local headquarters and city duma deputy Ksenia Fadeeva began in Tomsk. She is accused of organizing an extremist community using her official position and promoting the creation of an NGO that encroaches on the personality and rights of citizens. This is reported by Sibir.Realii.

Speaking in court, Fadeeva commented on the indictment announced by the prosecutor the day before. In her opinion, most of the charges relate to the actions of Alexei Navalny, Leonid Volkov, and other leaders of the Anti-Corruption Foundation.

She noted that it is not clear from the indictment in what period, according to the investigation, she committed the crime as part of the organization of the extremist community, in what, according to the indictment, was her leading role. “What did I do, specifically? Did I form an underground and lead it? Or maybe I moved a convoy to Moscow? There is no information about this. Not a single rally or even a picket,” Ksenia Fadeeva said.

According to Fadeeva, she did not refuse to testify and did not hide anything. But apparently, the investigation was not satisfied with what it heard, because there were no words about the fact that it allegedly understood from 2017 that the goal of Navalny’s headquarters was a violent seizure of power, Fadeeva added.

Lawyer Kirill Terekhin noted that after Navalny’s headquarters were declared an extremist organization, Ksenia Fadeeva voluntarily refused to participate in its activities. This can serve as a basis for exemption from criminal liability, the lawyer noted.

• Ksenia Fadeeva won the Tomsk City Duma elections in September 2020. She became the first representative of the structures of politician Alexei Navalny, who managed to win the elections. Fadeeva was repeatedly fined and arrested for participating in protests that were not coordinated with the authorities. In December 2021, she was detained. The court forbade her to use the Internet, communicate with anyone without the permission of the investigator, and attend mass events

• In April 2021, Russian authorities recognized structures associated with politician Alexei Navalny as extremist organizations. After that, several heads of regional headquarters came under criminal prosecution. In August 2023, Alexei Navalny was sentenced to 19 years in a special regime colony on charges related to “extremism”.