Translated material
Such a week. Issue No. 5
Hello, dear readers of OVD-Info ! Our editors care about you and tell you what important happened this week in the field of political persecution in Russia (and also how to protect yourself from it, at least to some extent).
If you are missing something in the newsletter or want to tell us about something , we are waiting for your letters to [email protected] with the mark “newsletter”.
This time, let's start with the good news, especially since there are several of them this week. The case of the leader of the “Russian Astrakhan” movement, Igor Stenin, who was sentenced to two years in a penal colony for publishing a post on a social network on the topic of war on the territory of Ukraine and someone else’s comment under it, was discontinued, and then he was also transferred to a general regime colony. The court considered that there was no corpus delicti in Stenin’s actions. In Chelyabinsk, the court decided to stop the forced treatment of Alexei Moroshkin, who was sent to a psychiatric hospital in the case of calls for separatism for online publications about the need to create the Ural People's Republic. Moroshkin spent more than a year and a half in the hospital. True, neither Stenin nor Moroshkin have yet been released. The court decision in Chelyabinsk comes into force in ten days, and in the Tambov colony there is no scanner to read the digital signature of the Astrakhan court. In addition, in Ulyanovsk the case of Left Bloc activist Danil Alferyev, who was accused of calling for extremism for a parody speech at a rally, was dismissed .
And one more good news: Ildar Dadin, released from the colony after the termination of the case for “repeated violations of the procedure for holding public events,” must be paid compensation - two million and two hundred rubles. This decision was made by the court (although Dadin asked for five million).
The “March 26 Case” continues about attacks on police officers during the dispersal of an anti-corruption rally in Moscow. Two people - Yuri Kuliy and Alexander Shpakov - have already been sentenced to real terms despite the fact that they admitted guilt. The other defendants, Stanislav Zimovets and Dmitry Krepkin, who was recently arrested , refused to admit guilt . The first hearing on the merits of the Zimovets case is scheduled to take place on June 5. Meanwhile, it turned out that the “victim” in the Zimovets case was injured not during the dispersal of the protest , but before that, during training.
Supporters of Alexei Navalny are planning to hold a protest action “We demand answers” in different cities of Russia on June 12. At the moment, the action has not been approved in Moscow and many other places . But that's not so bad. In Sarapul (Udmurtia), the police came to the home of one of the organizers. In Bryansk, the police go to the houses of activists . In Apatity (Murmansk region), one of the activists was threatened by telephone by unknown persons who introduced themselves as police officers. In Khanty-Mansiysk, the university authorities and the police tried to persuade the organizer to abandon the rally.
In addition, arrests of activists from Navalny’s election headquarters continue in Kazan (they were detained for installing a propaganda cube). And in Irkutsk, unknown persons brutally beat the son of the owner of the premises in which Navalny’s election headquarters was set up.
Dmitry Boynov, the defender of the Moscow Dubki park, was given a suspended sentence of three years and three months: he himself was seriously injured while defending the park - his leg was broken - but was also accused of attacking the private security company.
And in the Lipetsk region , a criminal case was opened against local human rights activist Andrei Osmachkin. He was arrested for two months. Relatives are sure that the case is falsified. Osmachkin has received punishment before for fighting with local authorities; details can be found on the website.
Read
From June 1, several regions, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, will introduce restrictions on public events in connection with the Confederations Cup. At the request of OVD-Info, lawyers comment on these measures.
On June 5, a verdict is due in the case of the head of the Library of Ukrainian Literature, Natalya Sharina, accused of inciting national hatred due to books found in her library and embezzlement. During the debate, the prosecutor asked the court to give her five years probation. We tell you how the last meeting went before the debate . The case is commented on by the co-founder of the Phalanster bookstore, former deputy director of the Moscow City Library Center, and CEO of Gorky.media Boris Kupriyanov. We also explain what problems libraries currently face .
The trial has begun in the case of the head of the Karelian society “Memorial” Yuri Dmitriev, who is accused of photographing a minor for the purpose of producing pornographic materials, committing indecent acts and possessing weapons. We recommend reading a huge journalistic investigation by Alexander Burtin about what Dmitriev was doing and how this case arose, published on the website of the Les media project .
Such a week!
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Good luck and freedom!
With love,
your OVD-Info