In Buryatia, activist Natalya Filonova was sentenced to almost 3 years in prison

In Ulan-Ude, the October District Court sentenced 61-year-old activist Natalya Filonova to 2 years and 10 months of general regime prison, finding her guilty of assaulting a police officer during a rally against mobilization. This was reported by the correspondent of Sibir.Realii.

Earlier, the state prosecution proposed three years in prison for Filonova. She herself did not admit guilt.

The defense side of the pensioner plans to appeal the verdict, reported Sibir.Realii lawyer and supporter of Filonova, Nadezhda Nyzovkina.

After the announcement of the court’s decision, those present in the hall began to shout: “Shame on Russian justice!”, “Natalia Ivanovna, hold on!”. Filonova, smiling, waved at them and thanked them for their support, after which the bailiffs began to quickly push everyone present towards the exit.

According to Filonova’s lawyer appointed by Andrey Sokovykov, the term of detention, including house arrest (a day is counted as two), was about 16 months. Thus, the actual term of imprisonment of the activist in the general regime colony is one year and five months. The lawyer noted that he considers the sentence too harsh. “It was possible to give a conditional, but not a real term. In the last case, if the appeal against the sentence does not work, it is possible to submit an application for conditional early release from the colony, because the term has already passed,” the defender added.

• A criminal case against the activist Natalya Filonova was initiated at the end of October 2022. She was accused of assaulting police officers, one of whom she allegedly broke a finger during a detention at a rally against mobilization in the fall of 2022.
• After the arrest, Filonova’s home was searched, during which she allegedly hit one of the policemen with a ballpoint pen. Since November 2022, the activist has been in a pre-trial detention center. Her adopted son, 16-year-old Vladimir Alalykin, was taken to the orphanage by guardianship authorities. According to Nizovkina, there Vladimir is subjected to “ideological and political” pressure.
• In March 2023, an employee of the orphanage did not let Alalykin go to the court hearing to see his mother, and he himself reported on the pressure on him in the orphanage.
• In May 2023, the Investigative Committee of Buryatia opened a criminal case under the article on refusal to give testimony against the human rights activist Nadezhda Nizovkina, who represented Filonova’s interests in court. The investigators asked to interrogate Nizovkina in the case of Filonova, despite her status as a defender. Nizovkina was repeatedly not allowed to attend court hearings on the case.