In Yakutsk, eight protocols were drawn up against politician Vitaly Obedin under the article on cooperation with an “undesirable” organization (Article 20.33 of the Administrative Code), and two were drawn up against resident of Tsivilsk (Chuvashia) Valeryan Viktorov. Obedin spoke about his persecution in his personal Telegram channel; information about the protocols ( 1 , 2 ) against Viktorov was found on the website of the Tsivilsky District Court by Mediazona.
The reason for the persecution of Obedin was the reposts of Meduza texts, which he made in 2019 and 2020. The man connects the pressure on himself with the prospect of early elections for the mayor of Yakutsk. Meduza was declared “objectionable” in January 2023, but the police considered the undeleted reposts to be an “ongoing offense.”
The protocols against Viktorov were drawn up because of two reposts that he made on VKontakte in December 2017 from the page of the former head of the Chuvash branch of Open Russia, Dmitry Semenov, which contained symbols of the movement. Viktorov has now deleted the page. The man is 53 years old; he previously participated in regional elections twice.
In the spring of 2017, the Prosecutor General's Office recognized the British organization Open Russia and several other projects related to Mikhail Khodorkovsky as “undesirable.” Then the security forces argued that the ban on this organization would not affect participants in the Russian movement with the same name.
- More information about which organizations have been included in the list of “undesirables” can be found in the OVD-Info project “ Inoteka ”.
- For participation in the activities of an “undesirable organization,” administrative liability is provided (Article 20.33 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, maximum penalty - a fine of up to 15 thousand rubles for citizens), and with repeated participation, criminal liability (Part 1 of Article 284.1 of the Criminal Code, maximum penalty - imprisonment for up to four years). Article 284.1 also applies to financing or organizing the activities of an “undesirable organization”, in which case the punishment can be up to five and up to six years in prison, respectively.
- Human rights organization Amnesty International called the "undesirable organizations" law a way to "vilify independent NGOs, deprive them of funding and impose harsh penalties on their members." The law, according to human rights activists, is used “to combat dissent and stifle freedom of expression and independent civil society organizations in Russia.” The UN Human Rights Committee recommended that Russia repeal or revise legislation on “undesirable organizations.”