The Russian judiciary ordered the suspension of the activities of all organizations associated with Alexei Navalny, who were declared “extremists”, today they indicated collaborators with the opposition.
“The activities of the Navalny offices and the Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK) have been suspended, with immediate effect,” Ivan Gadenov, Director of the FBK, wrote on Twitter, accompanied by a transcript of the photos of the document sent by the Attorney General.
“They simply say: ‘We are afraid of your activities, we are afraid of your demonstrations,’ adds Gadenov.
Navalny’s Moscow office indicated via Telegram that the order was preventing the body from “operating in the old fashion.”
“The situation has become very dangerous for our employees and supporters,” said Ivan Gadenov, and pledged that the organization’s members “will continue to fight corruption in their personal capacity,” against the ruling party and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The FBK delegation in Moscow says: “The fight will not be easy, but we will win because we are many and strong.”
In April the Russian Public Prosecutor’s Office had requested that organizations linked to Alexei Navalny be deemed “extremist”, and had threatened prison sentences for opposition collaborators and supporters.
The prosecution accused the bodies of seeking to “create conditions to destabilize the social and political situation” in Russia through “liberal” slogans.
However, the decision will be considered by the court that convened it, today a preliminary hearing on the suspension.
Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s main opponent, was arrested in January upon his return from Germany, where he was recovering for five months after an alleged poisoning with a Kremlin-related neurotoxic agent, which Russian authorities rejected.
Navalny’s arrest sparked a wave of protests across Russia, in the largest demonstration to challenge the Kremlin in recent years.
After the arrest, a court sentenced Navalny to two and a half years in prison in a corruption case that occurred in 2014 that his supporters denounced as being politically motivated, while the European Court of Human Rights found the punishment to be “clearly arbitrary and irrational.”
In March, the politician was transferred to a penal colony east of Moscow, known for its harsh detention conditions, and went on a hunger strike for 24 days to protest poor prison conditions.
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