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Russia may label Navalny's opposition networks as extremist groups. Even T-shirts could be outlawed.
Source: Washington Post
Russia may label Navalny’s opposition networks as extremist groups. Even T-shirts could be outlawed.
By Robyn Dixon
April 24, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
MOSCOW — A closed-door Moscow court hearing Monday is expected to officially ban the political and anti-corruption networks of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a ruling that would mark the most sweeping attempt to crush the Kremlin's greatest political threat.
The evidence to be used in the case is itself a state secret. Navalny's attorney has been told he will get access to the file shortly beforehand, according to Navalny ally Ivan Zhdanov.
If the court sides with the prosecutor's general request — declaring Navalny's political group and his Anti-Corruption Foundation to be extremist organizations — it would put them alongside the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the eyes of Russian authorities.
The rights group Amnesty International said it would be “one of the most serious blows for the rights to freedom of expression and association in Russia’s post-Soviet history.”
Even selling refrigerator magnets or wearing T-shirts with Navalny’s slogan “Russia will be happy” could bring jail time. Navalny’s team members could face six years in jail if they continued to work.
-snip-
By Robyn Dixon
April 24, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
MOSCOW — A closed-door Moscow court hearing Monday is expected to officially ban the political and anti-corruption networks of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a ruling that would mark the most sweeping attempt to crush the Kremlin's greatest political threat.
The evidence to be used in the case is itself a state secret. Navalny's attorney has been told he will get access to the file shortly beforehand, according to Navalny ally Ivan Zhdanov.
If the court sides with the prosecutor's general request — declaring Navalny's political group and his Anti-Corruption Foundation to be extremist organizations — it would put them alongside the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the eyes of Russian authorities.
The rights group Amnesty International said it would be “one of the most serious blows for the rights to freedom of expression and association in Russia’s post-Soviet history.”
Even selling refrigerator magnets or wearing T-shirts with Navalny’s slogan “Russia will be happy” could bring jail time. Navalny’s team members could face six years in jail if they continued to work.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russia-navalny-court-ban-extremist/2021/04/23/abe322a2-a375-11eb-b314-2e993bd83e31_story.html
