Translated material
The coordinator of Open Russia in Chuvashia was invited to the prosecutor's office
In Cheboksary, Dmitry Semyonov, coordinator of the Chuvash branch of Open Russia, was invited to the prosecutor's office. He himself wrote about this on Facebook.
According to him, an employee of the prosecutor's office called him and invited Semyonov to come, as he "received material" from the Center for Combating Extremism.
When asked by Semenov whether he is accused of carrying out the activities of an organization recognized as undesirable in Russia (Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), the employee answered in the negative. When Semyonov clarified whether it was a criminal case, the man replied: “Not really.”
- Earlier, Semenov was sent a resolution stating that a protocol had been drawn up against him for cooperation with a banned foreign organization. The reason for the administrative case was the “Stop Putin” stickers. The activist is charged with Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offenses - carrying out the activities of a foreign organization recognized as undesirable in Russia. In January, police seized Semyonov's stickers while he was at a bus stop.
- Semyonov has already twice been fined under Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.
The activist himself said that due to the court decision, he could face criminal prosecution in the future. In addition to the administrative article for carrying out the activities of an undesirable organization, there is also a criminal one (Article 284.1 of the Criminal Code). To attract it, two administrative offenses under Art. 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offenses within one year. * On April 26, 2017, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office declared a number of organizations associated with Mikhail Khodorkovsky undesirable. The list includes the UK-registered OR Otkrytaya Rossia and the Open Russia Civic Movement (Open Russia), the Institute of Modern Russia, Inc, registered in the USA .
The Russian movement "Open Russia" was not banned. Nevertheless, in December 2017, Roskomnadzor entered the website of the Open Russia media project into the register of banned sites. Access to the sites "Open Elections", "Open University" and khodorkovsky.ru was closed.
In addition, the police began to pursue members of the Russian movement. In most cases, they are accused of collaborating with an "undesirable organization", that is, one registered in the UK, to which they are not related.