News digest for July 20

Due to pressure, activists are leaving the country and opposition politicians are abandoning election campaigns. We talk about the main news for July 20.

• The Moscow City Court commuted the sentence of Pavel Green-Romanov, a defendant in the “palace case.” Now, instead of three and a half years, he was sentenced to three years in prison under the article on the use of violence against a government official in connection with the rally in support of Alexei Navalny on January 31.
• Opposition deputy Maxim Reznik stopped the election campaign for the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg. He made this decision due to pressure from the authorities: in June, a criminal case was opened against the politician for drugs, he is under house arrest, and a notary has already not been allowed to see him twice to draw up documents for his nomination.
• A defendant in the “palace case” from the Ivanovo region, former policeman Sergei Rimsky, was charged with insulting a government official. According to investigators, the man used obscene language towards a security officer at a rally on April 21 in support of Navalny.
• The court sentenced Jehovah's Witnesses from Birobidzhan Anna and Irina Lokhvitsky to suspended sentences. Their co-religionist from Arkhangelsk, Evgeniy Yakku, was fined 850 thousand rubles. The believers were found guilty under the article on organizing the activities of an extremist organization. Three Jehovah's Witnesses from Nalchik were detained by police, and the believers' homes were searched.
• The defense of Ramis Chirkinov, accused of organizing hooliganism at a rally against self-isolation in Vladikavkaz on April 20, 2020, complained about poor conditions in the pre-trial detention center. Due to improper conditions, the person involved in the case began to have health problems.
• Member of the Pussy Riot art group Alexander Sofeevleft Russia. This happened immediately after the activist was released from a special detention center, where he was serving another arrest on charges of petty hooliganism.
• The head of the Perm branch of the independent trade union “Alliance of Doctors” Artem Boriskin also left the country. He said he feared persecution as authorities increased pressure on opposition activists.
• The ECHR awarded seven and a half thousand euros in compensation to Russian LGBT activist Dmitry Yartsev. He was illegally detained during a coordinated May Day march in Moscow in 2016.
• In St. Petersburg, the court dismissed the case of an activist who was accused of organizing an uncoordinated rally on January 31. His interests were represented by lawyer Veronika Karagodina, who collaborates with OVD-Info.