Former Open Russia director Andrey Pivovarov facing charges over Facebook post shared by someone else

The Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against former Open Russia director Andrey Pivovarov over a post on his public Facebook page, which he didn’t share himself.

According to Pivovarov’s Telegram channel, during an appeals hearing on June 15, human rights lawyer Sergey Badamshin from Pravozashchita Otkrytki said that the post in question was shared by Maria Kuznetsova — one of the administrators of Andrey Pivovarov’s public Facebook page. In turn, Pravozashchita Otkrytki reported that this is confirmed in an inspection record certified by a notary, as well as in the attorney’s interview with Kuznetsova.

As such, Badamshin plans to petition the investigators to terminate Pivovarov’s arrest and drop the criminal case due to the absence of a crime.

Nevertheless, the court rejected the appeal against Pivovarov’s detention (he was remanded in custody for two months on June 2). The activist’s lawyer plans to challenge the ruling.

Andrey Pivovarov stands accused of involvement in the activities of an “undesirable organization.” According to the investigation, the case was opened over a post he allegedly shared on Facebook while in Krasnodar on August 12, 2020. Investigators maintain that Pivovarov shared the post, “with the intent of participating in the activities of the undesirable organization Open Russia. Under Criminal Code article 284.1, this is punishable by either up to 500,000 rubles ($6,900) in fines, community service, compulsory labor, or up to six years in prison.

Andrey Pivovarov’s Facebook page doesn’t contain any posts from August 12, 2020. However, it’s possible that the investigation is actually referring to a Facebook post by district councilman Alexander Korovainy, which Pivovarov’s page shared on August 13, 2020. The post contained information about a fundraising campaign to support Open Russia activist Yana Antonova’s nomination to the Krasnodar City Duma.

• The Russia-based nonprofit Open Russia isn’t formally included in the country’s list of “undesirable organizations.” However, its activists started coming under pressure in 2017, after this status was handed down to the Open Russia Civic Movement and OR (Otkrytaya Rossia), which are both linked to exiled former oil executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky. In 2019, Open Russia announced its dissolution, after which it established another entity under the same name, but the Justice Ministry refused to register it. In May 2021, Open Russia announced that it was disbanding completely to protect its supporters from criminal prosecution.