The Aleksandrovsky City Court of Perm Krai fined Sergei Ukhov, former coordinator of Navalny's Perm headquarters and creator of the Perm 36.6 Telegram channel, 35 thousand rubles for the absence of a "foreign agent" marking (Part 4 of Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). This was reported by the Perm 36.6 channel.
The reason for drawing up the report was the absence of “foreign agent” signs in posts about searches at his mother’s and Perm activists’ homes, as well as the publication of an interview by 59.RU with Elena Naidanova, the former director of the “Assistance XXI Century” foundation who fled from the criminal case.
In September, the same court fined Ukhov the same amount under a similar protocol . Defense attorney Artem Faizulin, who represents Ukhov's interests, believes that Roskomnadzor is gathering material for a criminal case on non-compliance with "foreign agent" legislation (Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code), which is initiated if the violation is repeated twice within a year after the first administrative penalty.
"However, if this is indeed Roskomnadzor's plan, then they rushed with the second protocol - in order for a "criminal case" to arise, two new violations must be recorded after the first resolution has entered into force. And this has not happened yet," the lawyer clarified .
Ukhov was added to the register in January of this year, and in April the appellate court refused to remove his "foreign agent" status. In July, the Ministry of Internal Affairs put the journalist on the wanted list, and in August it became known that a criminal case had been opened against him under the article on public calls for actions against state security (Article 280.4 of the Criminal Code).
- On June 9, 2021, the Moscow City Court recognized the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), the Citizens' Rights Defense Foundation (CRDF), and Alexei Navalny's headquarters as extremist organizations. The appeal court later upheld this decision. After that, supporters of the opposition politician began to leave Russia en masse. Navalny himself has been in prison since January 2021, he is being prosecuted under several articles of the Criminal Code.
- The legislation on "foreign agents" is becoming stricter every year. On December 1, 2022, the law "On control over the activities of persons under foreign influence" came into force, as well as numerous legislative amendments to the "foreign agent" regulation. You can read about the list of "affiliated persons", new registers and other innovations in the law on "foreign agents" in the analysis of OVD-Info .
- In addition, Vladimir Putin signed a law on imprisonment for up to five years for “foreign agents” who were held accountable twice in one year for violating the procedure for the activities of a “foreign agent” (Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).
- In the fall of 2021, OVD-Info launched the Inoteka project. We study the practice of applying laws on "foreign agents", talk about their impact on civil society and specific people, initiate discussions with experts and propose ways of possible changes. In December 2021, together with the Center for the Protection of Media Rights, we began providing legal support to people and organizations that ended up on the registers of "foreign agents".