Navalny associate Lilia Chanysheva sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison

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Lilia Chanysheva, former coordinator of Navalny's regional headquarters, has been sentenced by the Kirovskiy District Court of Ufa. She was found guilty of creating an extremist community, inciting extremism, and establishing an organization that violates citizens' rights. The court has sentenced her to 7 years and 6 months in prison.

Initially, the prosecutor's office had requested a 12-year prison term for Chanysheva. She pleaded not guilty and asserted in her final statement that the actions she was accused of were part of her regular political activities. “I'm a politician, a woman who faces persecution from her male opponents, namely Putin and Khabirov.”

The court also sentenced Ufa activist Rustem Mulyukov, whose case was merged with that of Chanysheva. He was found guilty of participating in an extremist community and sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in a penal colony.

Chanysheva was arrested in Ufa in November 2021 and subsequently transferred to a Moscow detention center. She remained there until February 2023 before being returned to the capital of Bashkiria.

During a court hearing in March, one of the prosecution's witnesses expressed her belief that Chanysheva was not guilty. The witness said she had signed a statement against Chanysheva under duress, following her abduction and threats.