A family of Astrakhan activists left Russia under threat of criminal prosecution

The secretary of the council of the Astrakhan branch of PARNAS Yaroslav Savin and his activist wife Marina Mitaleva left Russia under the threat of criminal prosecution. about this . writes Kavkaz.Realii

Now the family is in Armenia, but plans to go further to Germany. Savin told the publication that during the administrative arrest , which he served in February, the security forces threatened him with criminal prosecution and the dismissal of his wife from work.

Savin also added that the police showed him a screenshot of a post published on his behalf. The man claims he was fake. In this regard, Savin fears that an administrative case may be brought against him to discredit the Russian army (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). This threatens him with criminal prosecution: a case under the article on repeated discrediting (Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code) can be initiated if a person was involved once during the year under a similar administrative article.

On February 18, Savin was fined 30 thousand rubles under the article on discrediting the Russian army and arrested for five days under the article on petty hooliganism associated with disobedience to the requirements of police officers (part 2 of article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).

The reason for the detention and the fine was that in the name of Savin's telegram channel, next to the name, there is an emoji of the Ukrainian flag. Hooliganism, due to which the man was placed under administrative arrest, allegedly took place at the time of Savin's arrest and delivery to the police department.

Mitaleva assumed that her husband's arrest was related to his actions in support of political prisoners - for example, he sent postcards. In the detention center, Savin went on a hunger strike, he held her for five days.

• project Marina Mitaleva is the author of the “In Memory of a Square Meter” , an online memorial to victims of political repression who taught and studied at the Astrakhan Technical Institute of the Fishing Industry and Economy (now Astrakhan State Technical University).