Searches were carried out at the premises of human rights activists Alexey Sokolov and Larisa Zakharova, who work on protecting the rights of prisoners, and lawyer Roman Kachanov. This was reported by the UralLive telegram channel, associated with propagandist Vladimir Solovyov.
The channel published a video in which security forces tell Kachanov that he is accused of organizing the activities of an “undesirable organization” (Part 3 of Article 284.1 of the Criminal Code). UralLive claims that the case is related to grants from the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the National Endowment for Democracy, which were declared “undesirable” in Russia.
“The defendants systematically formed and replicated a distorted picture of what was happening in the Russian colonies, receiving money from Western curators for this,” the channel writes.
Sokolov was taken to the Investigative Committee for interrogation without a lawyer, his lawyer told Mediazona.
The chief of staff of the pro-government association “Volunteer Company of the Combat Brotherhood”, Ekaterina Saprykina, wrote a denunciation against human rights activists. She accused them of “working for the enemy” and turned to the Investigative Committee with a request to check them under the article, under which a case was eventually opened.
9:33 Saprykina claims that the case was opened against not only Kachanov, but also Zakharova and Sokolov.
On December 17, the Leninsky District Court of Yekaterinburg took into custody Larisa Zakharova, who is accused in this case, Mediazona reports .
The meeting was held behind closed doors, so it is still unknown exactly which organization the human rights activists are accused of belonging to. A preventive measure will be chosen for Alexey Sokolov tomorrow.
For many years, Zakharova and Sokolov publicized cases of violence against prisoners in colonies in the Sverdlovsk region and helped victims defend their rights.
On December 18, the Verkh-Isetsky District Court of Yekaterinburg sent Ural human rights activist Alexei Sokolov to a pre-trial detention center on charges of treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by Mediazona with reference to a correspondent in the courtroom.
The hearing was held behind closed doors. He is also charged with disseminating information about torture and human rights violations in the FSIN systems, “including to foreign organizations.”
The title has been updated due to new information.
- Previously, a case was opened against Sokolov for repeated display of prohibited symbols (Part 1 of Article 282.4 of the Criminal Code) because of the Facebook logo - the reason was posts in the telegram channel “Human Rights Defenders of the Urals”, which contained links to this social network. The human rights activist was in a pre-trial detention center for about six months, but then he was released from custody. His case is now being considered by the court.