A court in Russia arrested lawyer Ilya Novikov in absentia

A court in Russia issued a decree on the absentee arrest of lawyer Ilya Novikov. Novikov himself announced this on his Facebook page and provided a photo of the resolution. It states that the lawyer will be arrested for two months from the moment he is detained in Russia or extradited. Earlier, the FSB opened a case of high treason against Novikov.

In response, the lawyer published a photo of an artillery shell on Facebook with the caption: “With love, 14.02.24, Ilya N.”, and stated that he had “exchanged valentines” with the Russian authorities.

The case of treason against Novikov was initiated in October 2023. According to the FSB, treason in Novikov’s actions resulted in “switching over to the enemy’s side.” As the FSB said, he “joined the ranks of the Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine and is currently participating in their activities.”

• Ilya Novikov, in the past also a player of the TV quiz show “What? Where? When?”, moved from Russia to Kyiv even before the start of the full-scale invasion. In Russia, he also acted as a lawyer for Ukrainian citizens who were subjected to political persecution, in particular Oleg Sentsov and Crimean Tatar activists. He also made strongly anti-Kremlin statements. He continues his legal practice in Ukraine.
• In June 2022, the Moscow Chamber of Advocates left Novikov’s status, at the end of November the Ministry of Justice entered Novikov in the register of “foreign agents”, and then it became known that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia declared him wanted. The article was not called then.