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An activist from Berezniki, Irina Faizulina, has been remanded in custody at a pre-trial detention centre (SIZO) until 15 October in the FBK donations case, reports “Perm 36.6.”

Faizulina is charged over seven donations of 300 roubles (about US$3) each to FBK after the project was declared an “extremist organisation.”

Today, a pre-trial restriction measure will also be determined for another Berezniki resident, the athlete Elena Guseva.

The hearings on pre-trial detention measures are being held behind closed doors.

On 27 August, searches were carried out at the home of Faizulina and her husband Artem, and at Artem’s as well. Artem was later released. He told “Perm 36.6”: “This is a blow to me. Because the FSB would never go after some random person. They have taken her hostage. I was always ready, for a long time I prepared myself for this, that something like this could happen to me, that I might be detained, that I might be jailed, I knew this, I understood this, I prepared for it, I prepared the family for it. But I was completely unprepared for it to happen like this. I now remain free, with my family, with our kids, while Irina is behind bars.” A search was also carried out at Guseva’s home.

15:12 Elena Guseva has also been sent to SIZO, reports “Perm 36.6.”

Both arrested women each have one minor child.

News is being updated

Headline was changed after pre-trial detention was ruled for the second defendant

17 September Irina Faizulina is not receiving letters in SIZO, and is being refused visits with her daughter, reports “Perm 36.6.” Her husband Artem Faizulin said: “Both I and our daughter have already written several times through 'Zona-Telekom', the first of our letters went out literally two days after her arrest. I know that other people are also writing to Irina. And not a single one of these letters, as far as we can tell, has reached her, let alone her replying to them (even though the reply envelopes have been paid for by the senders as required by the procedure).”

  • Artem Faizulin has repeatedly defended detained protesters at police stations and in court. In 2022, Elena Guseva was fined 40,000 roubles (approx. US$445) for holding a one-person picket with a poster saying: “Peace to Ukraine! Freedom for Russia! Tribunal for Putin!” (part 1, article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). In 2023, she was given compulsory community service for not paying this fine (article 20.25 of the Code of Administrative Offences). In February 2024, Guseva was detained for laying flowers in memory of Navalny.
  • In 2014, Elena Guseva, as part of an international swimming team, swam across the Bering Strait, covering the 134 kilometre distance from Chukotka to Alaska. Several years later, her achievement was officially included in the Guinness World Records.
  • In March 2024, the Faizulins, Guseva, and another activist, Irina Lyashchenko, also had their homes searched. These searches were linked to a case against Sergei Ukhov, the creator of the “Perm 36.6” channel.