Ural human rights activist Alexey Sokolov arrested in case of repeated demonstration of Facebook logo

The Leninsky District Court of Yekaterinburg has sent Ural human rights activist Alexei Sokolov to pretrial detention until September 1 in a criminal case on the repeated display of the Facebook logo (Part 1 of Article 282.4 of the Criminal Code), Itʼs My City reports .

The case against Sokolov was opened on July 5. According to the Vecherniye Vedomosti newspaper, the reason was publications in the Telegram channel "Human Rights Defenders of the Urals", associated with Sokolov.

Vecherniye Vedomosti assumes that Sokolov is being persecuted because of a video with a prisoner, screenshots of which were published in the Telegram channel "Human Rights Defenders of the Urals." In the recording, filmed, according to a source of Vecherniye Vedomosti, in the Yekaterinburg colony IK-10, the prisoner, standing in front of FSIN officers and guards, strips down to his underwear, and then at least five people in uniform lay him on the floor. When he gets up, it is clear that his head is shaved and he is already completely naked.

The Telegram channel “Human Rights Defenders of the Urals” reported , along with screenshots of this video, about the prisoner’s complaints about the illegal actions of the FSIN officers, who handcuffed his hands and unjustifiably used physical force against him, after which they shaved off his head and beard.

Sokolov did not admit guilt in court and also stated that he was never told what specific publication he was accused of.

• In October 2023, Sokolov was arrested for five days under an administrative article on the demonstration of "extremist" symbols (the Facebook logo on the website "Human Rights Defenders of the Urals"). The reports on Sokolov, as his lawyer Roman Kachanov said , were drawn up by operatives of the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Sverdlovsk Region. The human rights activist himself believes that in this way the security forces tried to interfere with his activities.
• On July 5, 2024, Sokolov's home was searched. His colleague Larisa Zakharova, who also specializes in protecting prisoners' rights (she was not at home at the time), was also searched. In a recording of the search, published by one of the Telegram channels, one of the employees asked Sokolov "what position in the criminal world" he occupied.
• The criminal article on the repeated display of “extremist” symbols, which Sokolov is now charged with, can only be applied to those who have already been subject to a similar administrative article.