Buryat human rights activist Nadezhda Nizovkina was fined five thousand rubles under the article on participation in the activities of an “undesirable” organization (Article 20.33 of the Administrative Code) because of her speech at an international forum. RusNews reports this with reference to Nizovkina herself.
The reason for drawing up the protocol was the speech of the human rights activist at an event in Tokyo, which was held by the Forum of Free Peoples of Post-Russia. The organization was deemed “undesirable” in March. Then the Prosecutor General’s Office stated that the Forum included speeches by “representatives of ethnic separatist movements” and foreign speakers with “anti-Russian sentiment, realized in systemic Russophobic propaganda activities.”
Nizovkina was charged with calls for the secession of Buryatia and the conclusion of a separate peace with Ukraine. She herself connects her prosecution with protecting the interests of Yevgeny Surikov, a man who is being prosecuted in the case of an attack on the life of police officers. Shortly before drawing up the protocol, she was able to get him released from arrest.
“This case is the first step towards initiating a criminal case against me - Art. 284.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for the possibility of initiating a criminal case for so-called separatism [Art. 284.1 of the Criminal Code punishes for involvement in the activities of an “undesirable” organization, Nizovkina speaks about separatism, probably because the authorities consider separatism to be the goal specifically of the “Forum of Free Peoples of Post-Russia” - approx. OVD-Info] only if the person has already been prosecuted for a similar act,” the human rights activist clarified, noting that she will remain in Buryatia, but will not pay the fine.
- In May, a criminal case was opened against Nizovkina for refusal of a witness to testify (Article 308 of the Criminal Code) because of her work in the case of activist Natalya Filonova: the human rights activist was accused of refusing to testify against her own client. At the end of the summer this case was stopped . In August, 61-year-old Filonova was sentenced to two years and ten months in prison for allegedly hitting one police officer with her hand and shoving a pen in the face of another after being detained at an anti-mobilization rally.