A court in Moscow called the criminal cases against Marina Ovsyannikova and Pussy Riot “politically motivated”

The Perovsky Court of Moscow called the criminal cases against former Channel One employee Marina Ovsyannikova and the feminist punk rock group Pussy Riot politically motivated. Lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov, who represented their interests, told The Insider about this.

On February 2, the Perovsky District Court ruled that Dmitry Zakhvatov committed an administrative offense - he violated the “procedure for the activities of a foreign agent” (Part 1 of Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code). The resolution states that Zakhvatov collaborated with the OVD-Info media project included in the register of foreign agents, “serving as a lawyer in politically motivated criminal and administrative cases of citizens.”

The resolution further provides examples of politically motivated cases involving Zakhvatov: in particular, the case against former Channel One employee Marina Ovsyannikova under the article about “fakes about the army” and the case against members of the feminist punk rock group Pussy Riot.

The court ordered Zakhvatov to pay an administrative fine. Commenting on the court's decision to The Insider, Zakhvatov said: “They simply stamp out decisions according to some templates without reading them. And we laugh."

In May 2025, Rosfinmonitoring added Dmitry Zakhvatov to the list of terrorists and extremists. In July, he was arrested in absentia under articles of promoting terrorist activities and public calls for anti-state activities. His lawyer status has been suspended.

Zakhvatov lives in Lithuania. He continues to engage in human rights work and helps with the evacuation of people persecuted by Russian authorities. He assisted Marina Ovsyannikova in escaping from house arrest to a safe country.

Marina Ovsyannikova was sentenced in absentia in Russia to 8.5 years in prison in the case of “fakes about the army.” In March 2022, she held an anti-war picket live on the Vremya program.

Feminist punk band Pussy Riot rose to prominence during the 2011–2012 protests in Russia. Her most memorable action was the punk prayer service “Virgin Mary, drive Putin away” in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior. For this, two members of the group - Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina - were sentenced to two years in prison on charges of hooliganism. After this, Pussy Riot organized numerous actions criticizing the Russian authorities and the war in Ukraine. In October 2025, five members of the group were sentenced in absentia in the case of “fakes about the army.”