Navalny and Khodorkovsky called the prosecution of Strelkov political

Russian oppositionist Alexei Navalny, who is in a colony and recognized as a political prisoner, called Igor Strelkov (Gyrkin), a reserve colonel of the FSB and former commander of the separatists “DPR”, recently sent to a pre-trial detention center in Moscow on charges of inciting extremism, as a political prisoner.

“Ihor Strelkov has been detained illegally. As long as he remains in custody on this ridiculous and obviously politically motivated charge, he is a political prisoner,” Navalny said in a message published on Twitter.

The oppositionist called for Strelkov to be tried for his activities in Ukraine, and also reminded him of the life sentence handed down by the Dutch court in the case of the Malaysian Boeing crash. However, as Navalny noted, “now Strelkov is arrested not on charges of committing a real crime, but on a fictitious and fabricated case of extremism. To put it simply, for criticizing the authorities. Specifically, Shoigu and Putin.”

Navalny’s associates, in particular Leonid Volkov, supported this thesis noted that Strelkov must be tried for “real” crimes, not for “fictional” ones.

Another prominent Russian oppositionist in exile, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, also said that he considers the persecution of Strelkov illegal. “The expression of any opinion, even an extremely unpleasant one, is not a crime, which means that the current accusation against Hyrkin is illegal and makes him a person persecuted in Russia for political reasons. And he should be acquitted of this charge,” wrote Khodorkovsky in a telegram, emphasizing that he considers Strelkov a criminal due to his participation in the war in Ukraine and in accordance with the decision of the Dutch court.

Earlier, during the rebellion of PMC “Wagner”, Khodorkovsky declared situational support for Yevgeny Prigozhin against Vladimir Putin. This opinion sparked a lively discussion on the Internet.

• One of the heads of the Memorial human rights center liquidated by the Russian authorities, Alexander Cherkasov, previously noted that Strelkov does not meet the Memorial’s criteria for being recognized as a political prisoner, since he called for violence.
• Igor Strelkov (Gyrkin) was detained on July 21 and sent to a pre-trial detention center for two months due to posts in Telegram. He does not admit guilt. Strelkov criticizes the Russian leadership from radically pro-war positions.
• In 2017, the debate between Navalny and Strelkov took place on the TV channel “Dozhd”. They did not agree on the war in Donbass and Ukraine in general, but in many respects they coincided in their negative assessments of the Russian authorities.