Former head of Navalny's Murmansk headquarters put on international wanted list and arrested in absentia

The former coordinator of Navalny's Murmansk headquarters, Violetta Grudina, was put on the international wanted list and arrested in absentia. The oppositionist herself told OVD-Info about this.

The decision to arrest her in absentia was made by the Oktyabrsky District Court of Murmansk. It is unknown in which specific case Grudina was remanded in absentia. According to the activist, she is currently a defendant in three criminal cases. The first case - for violating sanitary and epidemiological rules (Part 1 of Article 236 of the Criminal Code) - was back in July 2021. The oppositionist is charged with this article because she allegedly conducted an election campaign and communicated with people while sick with coronavirus. Now two new cases have become known: Grudina is charged with articles on an extremist community (Article 282.1 of the Criminal Code) and on "fakes" about the Russian army (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) due to her statements against the "special operation" in Ukraine.

Earlier, Grudin was placed on the federal wanted list. In January, she said that Russia was due to political pressure.

announced left - Since February 24, the first day of the "special operation" in Ukraine, residents of Russian cities have been taking part in anti-war protests every day and talking about the tragedy online. Anti-war speeches and statements are becoming grounds for criminal prosecution. At the moment, more than 160 people have become defendants in criminal cases initiated due to protests against the war with Ukraine. Read more about this in our . guide - Article 207.3 (Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation) in the Criminal Code in March 2022 - this is how the authorities responded to anti-war speeches and statements, as well as the dissemination of information about the war that does not come from official Russian sources. The maximum punishment under the article is ten years in prison.

included - At the end of September 2021, the Investigative Committee announced that there was a case against Navalny and his associates, as well as other activists, on an extremist community (parts 1 and 2 of Article 282.1 of the Criminal Code). It later became known that there were several more cases in addition to this case, previously initiated against the politician and several key figures in his structures. Currently, within the framework of one case, in addition to the article on an extremist community, there are also articles on (part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code), on (subparagraph "b" of part 4 of Article 174 of the Criminal Code), on (part 2 of Article 239 of the Criminal Code), and on (subparagraphs "a", "c" of part 2 of Article 151.2 of the Criminal Code).

initiated joined financing of extremist activities legalization of funds acquired by other persons by criminal means creation of a non-profit organization that infringes on the personality and rights of citizens involving minors in dangerous activities - June 9, 2021 Moscow City Court Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), Citizens' Rights Protection Foundation (FZPG) and Alexei Navalny's headquarters extremist organizations. Later, the appellate court upheld this decision. After that, supporters of the opposition politician began to leave Russia en masse.

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