Garry Kasparov: "Frontiers of Freedom"

“But against the backdrop of the turbulent events taking place in the capital, the landmark criminal case currently being considered by the Vyborg District Court in St. Petersburg remains practically unnoticed. In the dock are 12 “other Russians,” members of the former NBP, who are trying to be convicted of belonging to a banned extremist organization However, the prosecution is having a hard time, since for some reason the police summoned to court as witnesses are not eager to give the necessary testimony. Formally, the prosecutors are trying to prove the fact of propaganda of the banned NBP, but the very nature of this conclusion leaves no doubt that this is what we are talking about. open persecution for political beliefs. Such prosecutorial gems as “organizing public events that are “aimed at expressing intolerance towards the highest leaders of existing government bodies” are similar to Putin’s modification of the ominous Article 58 of the Stalinist Criminal Code. If we remember that it was Limonov’s supporters who always became the first victims of new repressive measures used by the regime to suppress dissent, then it is obvious that the case of Andrei Dmitriev and his comrades is the most important frontier in defending our freedom, which civil society has no right to concede without complaint."