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On 8 October, the Novgorod Regional Duma banned foreign agents, their relatives, and persons affiliated with them from serving as assistants to deputies. Viktor Shalyakin, a deputy from Yabloko, has asked the Prosecutor’s Office to review this decision for compliance with the Constitution.
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On 8 October, the Novgorod Regional Duma banned foreign agents, their relatives, and persons affiliated with them from serving as assistants to deputies. Viktor Shalyakin, a deputy from Yabloko, has asked the Prosecutor’s Office to review this decision for compliance with the Constitution.
The Kaltan District Court sentenced citizen S. to five years in prison and one year of restricted freedom on charges of organising the activities of a banned religious association (Part 1, Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code). According to the court, from February 2020 to April 2021, he coordinated the work of the Jehovah’s Witnesses local religious organisation in Kaltan, a town in southwestern Siberia, and held meetings via Zoom.
The Zaporizhzhia Regional Court, established by the Russian authorities in the occupied territory of Ukraine, has sentenced a Melitopol resident born in 1995 to 14 years in a high-security prison and one year of restricted freedom on charges of treason. According to investigators, they transferred 500 hryvnias (about US$13.50) to an account linked to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Вчера
The Sverdlovsk District Court in Kostroma fined eco-activist and “Yabloko” State Duma candidate Andrei Tarasov 1,000 roubles (about US$11) for wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “I am against the party of crooks and thieves.” The court ruled that the image on the T-shirt constituted extremist symbols.
Alexandr Kynev, who has been arrested on charges of attempted drug dealing, is being transferred from SIZO-1 'Matrosskaya Tishina' to another remand centre, his lawyer reported. Previously, Kynev was taken to a prison hospital with injuries, and materials concerning the actions of unidentified individuals during his arrest have been separated into a separate investigation.
The Savelovsky District Court of Moscow has fined the publication 'Takie Dela' 200,000 roubles (approximately US$2,200) for failing to include a “foreign agent” label next to a quote from Boris Grebenshchikov posted on VKontakte. According to the court, the editorial team did not comply with the Justice Ministry’s requirement in time, despite having received a warning.
In Vladimir, a city east of Moscow, Ivan Rostovtsev, the editor-in-chief of the publication Chesnok, was fined 60,000 rubles (approximately US$670) in two cases related to publications that, according to the authorities, allegedly violated the ban on sharing information about drone attacks. According to his defence, the materials did not contain any information about drones, and the document from the operational headquarters cited by the authorities is not a regulatory legal act.
The Ministry of Justice has added the Tbilisi-based space Frame, as well as the Moldova-Institut Leipzig and the RAAM Foundation, to the list of “undesirable organisations.” The Prosecutor General’s Office decided to ban Frame on 29 September, which means that distributing materials or participating in the organisation’s activities may now lead to prosecution.
Blogger Ilya Remeslo, who is accused of spreading fake news about the Russian army motivated by political hatred (part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code), has been transferred to St Petersburg. The Moscow City Court has returned the appeal materials regarding the extension of Remeslo’s detention to the court of first instance for consideration with his participation.
On 14 October in Leningrad Region, FSB officers searched the home of Angela Donskaya, secretary of the Vyborg district branch of the Communist Party. They confiscated her phone and drew up a report. According to the official statement, Donskaya is suspected of distributing materials which, in the investigators’ view, discredit the army and could lead to mass disorder.
In Ufa, a major city in the Urals, the portrait of singer Zemfira and lyrics from her songs were painted over on the building where she lived in her youth, following an order from the prosecutor’s office after a complaint by Sergey Zaitsev, head of the “Call of the People” movement. In place of the original image, the artist painted an evening landscape, and local residents had mixed reactions to the changes.
The Kirovsky District Court in Irkutsk, a major city in Siberia, has remanded 42-year-old Konstantin Styazhkin and 51-year-old Alexander Styazhkin in custody on charges of justifying terrorism using information and telecommunications networks (part 2 of article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code). Konstantin was detained on 4 September, and Alexander on 12 September. The details of the case remain unknown.
Kamilla Fetiskina and Darya Korolkova have been released from the Sakharovo detention centre after serving 10 days’ arrest for taking part in a march to the memorial for victims of the shooting at the House of Soviets in Moscow. The court ordered the arrest on 6 October; another detainee, Vladimir Bodyashkin, was sentenced to 15 days, while the others were fined.
In Pskov, a city in north-western Russia, a local resident was detained on suspicion of justifying terrorism because of a comment on social media. A criminal case was initiated against them, and the court sent the man to a pre-trial detention centre.
The prosecution has requested lengthy prison sentences for Crimean residents Sergey Kozlov and Evgeniya Samoylova: 28 years of imprisonment and 22 years in a general regime colony, respectively. They are accused of attempting to set fire to a car bearing V and Z symbols, plotting to blow up railway tracks and to murder a serviceman in Sevastopol. According to the investigation, they were unable to carry out these actions as they were detained in April 2024.
The Supreme Court has recognised the “Community of Followers of Batal-Khadzhi Belkhoroyev—the Batal-Khadzhints” from Ingushetia as a terrorist organisation and banned its activities. The court’s press service stated that the organisation’s aims and actions are linked to the promotion and support of terrorism, and that members of the community committed offences under Articles 205, 205.1, 205.2, 205.4 and 208 of the Criminal Code.
Sergei Smirnov, the editor-in-chief of Mediazona, has been sentenced in absentia to one year in a general regime penal colony in a case concerning alleged violations of the “foreign agent” legislation. According to investigators, the reason was the absence of the required labelling on four of Smirnov’s posts in Telegram channels.
Rustam Khalikov, who in 2021 was sentenced to 12 years in prison for incitement to terrorism and participation in the terrorist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir, died on 27 September in Correctional Colony No. 4 in Penza Oblast. The cause of death is unknown.
The wife of Mikhail Semenov, who is serving a sentence at a minimum-security penal colony in Elektrostal for illegally crossing the border, has reported that her husband is facing pressure from the administration via other inmates following her complaints about detention conditions and medical care. According to her, after the introduction of collective domestic restrictions, staff are blaming Semenov for these measures, and he is being threatened with placement in a punitive isolation cell and is not being given the necessary medication.
The Central District Court of Volgograd has extended the restrictive measure for blogger Svyatoslav Kovalenko and Andrey Yaroshenko until 30 December in the case concerning the desecration of the “Stand to the death!” memorial. The first substantive hearing in the case will take place on 22 October.