RBC journalist arrested in Moscow

The Khamovnichesky Court of Moscow authorized the arrest of RBC journalist Alexander Sokolov. He is suspected of participating in the activities of the Army of the People's Will, which is recognized as extremist in Russia.

The head of the organization, Yuri Mukhin, a publicist and former editor-in-chief of the Duel newspaper, is also involved in the case. He was detained in Simferopol and transferred to Moscow. The third suspect, Mukhin’s associate Valery Parfenov, was also taken into custody.

As stated in the case materials, the suspects sought to “shatter the political situation towards instability and change the existing government through illegal means.”

As the lawyer of the arrested, Alexey Chernyshev, explained, his clients wanted to achieve amendments to the Constitution and the adoption of the law “For Responsible Power.” The authors of the initiative proposed to evaluate the work of deputies, senators and the country's leadership after the expiration of their powers.

RBC

• “The Army of the People’s Will”, after a court ban on its activities, was transformed into an initiative group for holding a referendum “For Responsible Power”. Members of the organization sought to hold a referendum in which they proposed to evaluate the activities of the authorities.
• The criminal case against Sokolov and Parfenov was reported on July 29 by the OVD-Info publication. According to him, the investigation believes that Sokolov was engaged in promoting the goals and objectives of the organization, and Parfenov attracted new supporters and sought funding.
• In 2009, Yuri Mukhin was sentenced to two years of suspended imprisonment for calls for extremism. Mukhin is a Stalinist and conspiracy theorist. In particular, he justified Stalin's repressions, claimed that Polish officers in Katyn were shot by the Germans, denied the fact of American astronauts landing on the moon and accused the CIA of organizing the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.