News digest for June 17

Searches of a SOTA journalist and an opposition deputy, the verdict of a Kursk defendant in the “palace case” and threats to a prisoner convicted in the “Network” case - we talk about the main news of political pressure for June 17.

• In St. Petersburg, a court found LGBTQ activist and anarchist Alexander Merkulov guilty of justifying terrorism. Because of the publication on VKontakte, he was given a fine of 200 thousand rubles and compulsory psychiatric treatment.
• A defendant in the “palace case” from Kursk, Artem Sazonov, was sentenced to a year of correctional labor under the article of using violence against a government official. According to the prosecution, he struck a riot policeman with two legs in the back at a rally on January 23 in support of Alexei Navalny.
• Opposition deputy from St. Petersburg Maxim Reznik was searched. After this, he was detained as a suspect in a drug case initiated against his nephew Ivan Dorofeev.
• The security forces also came to search the St. Petersburg State University dormitory of SOTA journalist Nika Samusik. She is a suspect in a case of hooliganism, which was opened after the performance of actionist Pavel Krisevich with a shot on Red Square.
• A 48-year-old Jehovah's Witness from Krasnoyarsk was sentenced to six years in a general regime colony. He was found guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist organization.
• The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case over the filming of a TikTok video with an Orthodox icon. According to law enforcement officers, the bloggers pursued “the goal of desecrating a religious shrine revered by believers.”
• The court extended the house arrest of Crimean Solidarity journalist Amet Suleymanov - he is charged with participation in the activities of the terrorist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir. Judging by the case materials, the accused did not have weapons and did not call for violent actions.
• A defendant in another Crimean Hizb ut-Tahrir case, Jamil Gafarov, was urgently hospitalized from a pre-trial detention center to a hospital. “During my stay in custody, I moved from the third category of disability to the second, that is, my health condition worsened,” he said.
• Andrei Chernov, convicted in the Network case, was threatened in the colony with a new criminal case of double murder. During the interrogation, the investigator promised to involve Chernov as an accomplice if he did not testify against another person.
• A criminal case was opened against Lipetsk activist Dmitry Krasichkov for fraud. He claims that the case is related to his participation in the city council elections.
• Victory for the defenders from OVD-Info! A court in Moscow overturned the decision to fine a participant in the rally on January 31 in support of Alexei Navalny - the case was sent for a new trial. In St. Petersburg, the courts stopped proceedings in two administrative cases against participants in the rally on January 31.