The case of IGPR "ZOV" was transferred to court

The case on the continuation of the activities of the banned "Army of the Will of the People" (AVN) has been sent to court.

On October 25, 2016, it became known that the case on the continuation of the activities of the banned "Army of the Will of the People" (AVN) (part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code), initiated against the publicist Yuri Mukhin and his associates Valery Parfyonov, Alexander Sokolov and Kirill, was submitted to the court Barabasha. The terms for the arrest of Sokolov and Parfyonov, as well as the house arrest of Mukhin, were extended by the Moscow City Court until November 11, 2016.

Criminal cases under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of an extremist organization) against the former leader of the banned AVN, editor-in-chief of the Duel newspaper Mukhin, as well as Sokolov and Parfenov, were initiated in the summer of 2015, all three were arrested. The cases were then merged. Mukhin was released under house arrest in August 2015, Sokolov and Parfenov are still being held in custody. In December 2015, a similar charge was brought against Barabash, he was also arrested. In March 2016, searches was separated into a separate proceeding were carried out at the homes of other activists of the IGPR "ZOV", in June the case on the participation of unidentified persons in a banned organization (part 2 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) . Since August, Sokolov's lawyers have been claiming that the deadline for his detention has been exceeded.

Mukhin, Sokolov, Parfenov and Barabash are accused of " being actively engaged in political activities, positioning themselves as opposition-minded persons to the state authorities of the Russian Federation ", " under the plausible pretext of organizing and holding a referendum " on the adoption of an amendment to the Constitution and the law "On the trial of the people of Russia over the president and members of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation" wanted to continue the activities of the extremist organization. At the same time, according to the investigation, the " main and only goal " of the organization was to distribute extremist materials, however, the criminal intent of the ZOV activists was not brought to an end, since the activities of the extremist organization were suppressed by law enforcement agencies.

The Human Rights Center "Memorial" considers Mukhin, Sokolov, Parfenov and Barabash political prisoners . Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova in June 2016 sent an appeal to the Prosecutor General's Office with a request to check the legality and legality of the decisions taken in the Sokolov case. On August 1, Reporters Without Borders called on the Russian authorities to immediately release journalist Sokolov.

We believe that the ban on the AVN, an organization of the Stalinist-nationalist persuasion that has been repeatedly seen in xenophobic propaganda, was unjustified, since the decision to recognize the movement as extremist was based only on the ban on the leaflet "You have chosen - you will be the judge!", which seems unreasonable to us. Read more about our position here .

Sources

• Natalia Mikhailova. RBC journalist's criminal case brought to court // RBC. 2016. October 25.
• Evgeny Sokolova. The court extended the arrest of the defendants in the case of illegal referendum // RAPSI. 2016. October 25.