Against lawlessness

On May 18 at 19.00 in Moscow at the monument to Griboyedov (metro station "Chistye Prudy") there will be a picket demanding the overturning of the sentence of human rights activist Alexei Sokolov, who received 5 years in prison to be served in a maximum security colony. Sokolov's colleagues are confident that the charges were fabricated.

The statement from the organizers of the event says: “On May 13, the Bogdanovich City Court of the Sverdlovsk Region (judge Vladimir Viktorovich Vasiliev) Alexey was found guilty of committing robbery in the city of Bogdanovich (161 part 3 clause a of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Robbery committed by an organized group”) and theft in the city of Krasnoufimsk (158 part 3 clause b of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Theft committed with illegal entry into a home on an especially large scale”). The only “evidence” of the crimes committed by Alexei are the testimonies of long-convicted criminals. All prosecution witnesses are in places of deprivation of liberty, under the authority of the Federal Penitentiary Service, whose activities were monitored by Sokolov, being the head of the Sverdlovsk regional public organization “Legal Basis” and a member of the Public Monitoring Commission for Places of Deprivation of Liberty of the Sverdlovsk Region (POC).

According to the results of checks carried out by Alexei Sokolov, many employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service were punished. Therefore, human rights defenders and social activists consider the fabrication of a criminal case against Sokolov as revenge from “law enforcement” agencies for his active social activities.

Sokolov was supported by Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin, Chairman of the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for Promoting the Development of Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights Ella Pamfilova, members of the Public Chamber Anatoly Kucherena and Henry Reznik, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament Heidi Hautala, human rights activists Lev Ponomarev and Lyudmila Alekseeva. The Commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on public control over the activities of law enforcement agencies recognized Sokolov’s criminal case as fabricated.

The international human rights organization Amnesty International declared Alexei Sokolov a prisoner of conscience.

We demand that the sentence of Alexey Sokolov be overturned!”

The picket will raise funds to help Alexey Sokolov and his family.

Organizers of the picket: Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners (

), Moscow "Solidarity" (

).

Promotion page:

Contact phone number: 8 985 763 19 33