Russia intensified its repression of dissidents

A package of amendments to the criminal code would provide a sentence of up to eight years for "confidential cooperation" with foreign organizations or sharing information that could be used against Russia

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Alexey Navalny, Photo: Reuters
Alexey Navalny, Photo: Reuters
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Yesterday, the Russian parliament supported a law that foresees sentences of up to eight years in prison for those found to be secretly cooperating with international organizations, which is part of a package of new "crimes against state security."

Russia has already labeled opponents of President Vladimir Putin as "extremists", closed their organizations and sent their leaders to prison. Many dissidents fled into exile during the crackdown, which has intensified over the past two years. Russia's most prominent human rights group, Memorial, was shut down this year for failing to properly register as a foreign agent.

Since launching its invasion of Ukraine in February, Russia has further clamped down on critical voices including introducing prison terms of up to 15 years for reporting that diverges from official accounts of its "special military operation". Since then, practically all independent media have been closed.

The package of amendments to the criminal code, which yesterday passed the second of three readings in the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, would provide for a sentence of up to eight years for "confidential cooperation" with foreign organizations or sharing information that could be used against Russia, he reported. Reuters. It introduces a maximum four-year sentence for "repeated public display of symbols of Nazism and extremist organizations". Russians who participate in military action "against the interests of the Russian Federation" could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

From yesterday's session of the lower house of the Russian parliament
From yesterday's session of the lower house of the Russian parliamentphoto: Reuters

In recent years, Russia has labeled as "extremist" the Foundation for the fight against corruption, the most prominent opponent of Putin, Alexei Navalny. Other banned organizations labeled as extremist include Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as groups associated with the Crimean Tatars who oppose Russia's annexation of the peninsula.

Navalny, who survived a 2020 poisoning attempt and has been detained since January 2021, was transferred in June to a maximum-security prison known for its brutality. He was imprisoned behind a six-meter-high fence, with convicted murderers. He described his daily schedule last Sunday, saying he sits at a sewing machine for seven hours, on a stool lower than knee level.

His close associate Leonid Volkov says the Russian authorities' aim is to isolate and physically cripple him.

"It is very serious and very dangerous," he wrote, although Navalny described his situation in a humorous way.

"I live like Putin. I have a speaker in the barracks that plays songs like 'Glory to the FSB' and I think Putin does that too," Navalny wrote in a message on social media posted by his lawyers.

The British "Economist" writes that the FSB controls the courts and the prosecution and that it supports the war in Ukraine by cleaning up "extremists" and "traitors". On June 30, the FSB arrested Dmitry Kolker, a doctor of physics and mathematics from Novosibirsk State University, on charges of leaking secrets to China. Kolker, who had an incurable disease, gave lectures to Chinese students. Agents took him from a hospital bed in Siberia to a prison in Moscow, where he died a few days later. On July 2, the FSB arrested his colleague Anatoly Maslov, chief scientist of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Novosibirsk, on similar charges.

Dmitry Kolker
Dmitry Kolkerphoto: Reuters

"The goal is to show that Russia is surrounded by enemies," said Ivan Pavlov, a Russian human rights lawyer who has led several cases against the FSB, commenting on the dramatic increase in prosecutions for high treason and extremism since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014. . years.

"The Economist" states that the definitions of treason and extremism are constantly expanding. A journalist who collects information from an open source that may benefit a foreign power may be charged with treason.

With an acquittal rate of less than 0,5 percent in Russia, the best lawyers can do is provide a "palliative" service, Pavlov says. "We can hold the accused's hand when the verdict is pronounced. They can also talk to the media, but that's risky. Pavlov and his team, which defended Navalny, were expelled from the country by the FSB under threats and restraining orders, and his status as a lawyer is currently suspended.

"It was a clear policy to expel anyone who provided independent information from the country," said Pavlov, who currently lives in Tbilisi, Georgia. Dmitry Talantov, the lawyer who took on Pavlov's cases, was arrested for criticizing the war in Ukraine. Ilya Yashin, one of the few opposition politicians still in Russia, was sentenced to 15 days in prison on the same day. In front of the court, Jašin described his arrest as "a persistent call to emigrate."

There are no untouchables

Even those who do not oppose the Kremlin in an explicit way can end up in prison.

Russia's academic and economic elite were shocked on June 30 by the arrest of Vladimir Mau, an economist who headed the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, which trains future civil servants. Mao advised the government on the economy and demonstrated political loyalty by signing a letter of support for Putin's "special military operation."

Mau, 62, is an economic liberal with close ties to mainstream policymakers, and a board member of Russian energy giant Gazprom.

The opposition criticized the case as the latest episode in the Kremlin's long-running campaign to exert control over Russia's education sphere and stifle academic freedom.

Vladimir Mau with Putin in 2017.
Vladimir Mau with Putin in 2017. photo: Reuters

Russia's interior ministry said he was accused of embezzling funds from the institute where he is rector, as part of a larger case involving another top academic and a former deputy education minister.

However, his arrest is believed to be part of a wider purge of universities and a signal to the technocratic elite that there are no untouchables in Russia today.

Members of the elite for some reason believe they are untouchable, but they never are, Pavlov said.

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