Russian man sentenced to 3 years in prison for donating €16 to Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation

A Moscow court has sentenced a man to three years in prison for donating €16 to Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), independent media outlet Mediazona reported from the courtroom on Tuesday.

Dmitry Marsov, a 55-year-old father of five, was arrested on 2 April and charged with making five monthly donations of 300 rubles (about €3) each to the FBK, which was declared “extremist” by the Russian government in June 2021, between August and December of the same year.

Marsov said during interrogation that he had felt remorse for what he had done “ever since December 2021”, when he ended the direct debit, Mediazona reported. He explained that he began making donations to the FBK out of a “general belief” in fighting corruption, and only subsequently learnt that FBK members “sullied the name of the country and the government” from abroad.

Calling himself a peaceful and law-abiding person, Marsov had willingly given up all his passwords to the police and fully cooperated with the investigation.

Marsov’s defence team told the court that the donation was lower than the equivalent of the monthly minimum wage, and asked the court to show mercy by imposing a non-custodial sentence.

In his closing statement, Marsov said he regretted what he had done, according to Mediazona, and added that it was “foolish to believe” that any organisation could fight corruption.

Marsov’s sentence is the latest in a series of cases against Russians whose donations to Navalny-linked organisations had been uncovered by law enforcement accessing their banking details, with another Moscow resident, Alexey Levanov, sentenced in February to 3.5 years in prison for donating to the FBK.