Ex-chief of the Tomsk headquarters of Navalny, Ksenia Fadeeva, was released immediately to court

On Wednesday, an ambulance had to be called to the Soviet District Court of Tomsk, where hearings are held in the case of the former head of the local “Navalny headquarters” Ksenia Fadeeva. Fadeeva herself and her defender felt bad. At the insistence of the judge, the sessions last for 12 hours, the defendant is not allowed to eat or rest.

As reported by Fadeeva’s support group, judge Dmytro Khudyakov holds hearings from morning until late at night. The defendant spends most of the day in court under escort or on the road between the pretrial detention center and the court. She does not have the opportunity to eat at this time. In addition, such a regime allows her to prepare for meetings.

The judge refuses requests to postpone sessions. As detailed by Sibir.Realii, the defense twice demanded the removal of the judge for violation of procedural norms, as well as ethical norms, but was also refused both times.

“The court is pushing ahead, and at the same time the defense is refusing requests for questioning even of persons who appeared in court! This cannot be done at all. The court is annoyed that the residents of the city characterize Ksenia positively. Judge Khudyakov seems to have noticed the practice of mocking the defendant in the case of Sasha Skochylenko.” – activists write.

• Ksenia Fadeeva has been pursued since 2021 in the case of the team of staff coordinators of Alexei Navalny. She is accused of organizing an extremist community using her official position (she was a deputy of the Tomsk City Duma) and participating in the activities of a non-profit organization that encroaches on the personality and rights of citizens.
• Since December 2021, Fadeeva has been banned from certain activities. Then the court forbade her, among other things, to use the Internet, communicate with anyone without the permission of the investigator, and attend mass events. In November, the court decided to send her under arrest to the SIZO. At the same time, judge Khudyakov transferred the trial in Fadeeva’s case to closed mode.
• Former coordinators of Navalny’s headquarters in Ufa and Barnaul – Lilia Chanysheva and Vadym Ostanin – were sentenced to 7.5 and 9 years in prison, respectively. The cases of several other former staff coordinators, including Fadeeva, are still under review.