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world news Diaranson 28 aPriL 2021

Moscow court restricts Navalny's anti-corruption foundation

(AP) — A Moscow court on Tues-
day restricted the activities of an
organization founded by impris-
oned opposition leader Alexei
Navalny, pending a decision on
whether it and his offices across
Russia should be outlawed as ex-
tremist groups.

The ruling on the Foundation for
Fighting Corruption by the Moscow
City Court was another step in the
sweeping crackdown on Navalny, his
allies and his political infrastructure.

The Moscow prosecutor’s office
had petitioned the court to label the
foundation and Navalny's network of
regional offices as extremist groups
and effectively outlaw their activities.
Such a move would expose mem-
bers and supporters to lengthy prison
terms.

If the court grants the request, it
would be a crippling blow to the
beleaguered team of Navalny, who
is President Vladimir Putin's most
prominent critic. Navalny has been One of its latest posts, which has re- get authorities to have his doctor see ban the activities of these organiza-
behind bars since January, and many ceived 116 million views, alleges that him at the penal colony. Instead, they tions,” he said.
of his aides and associates were ar- a lavish palace on the Black Sea shore moved him to another prison with a
rested or face criminal charges. was built for Putin through an elabo- hospital ward. According to his phy- Authorities in Moscow, meanwhile,
rate corruption scheme. The Krem- sicians, his health had deteriorated continued their clampdown on peo-
On Monday, the prosecutor's office lin has denied there are any links to significantly after he refused food for ple in connection with the April 21
issued an injunction ordering Na- Putin. more than three weeks. He ended the demonstration in support of Navalny.
valny's offices in dozens of Russian fast after undergoing tests and exami- Police didn't interfere with thousands
regions to suspend their activities, af- Along with the foundation, Navalny nations in a civilian hospital and get- of protesters who marched in the
ter which they effectively shut down. set up a network of regional offices in ting a warning from his doctors that central streets of the capital, but they
Tuesday's court ruling on the founda- dozens of regions when he was cam- his life was at risk. arrested people in the days that fol-
tion barred it from performing cer- paigning to run against Putin in the lowed instead.
tain activities, and Navalny's allies 2018 presidential election. He even- In an emotional message posted to
argued it wouldn't affect the founda- tually was barred from running but his Instagram account Tuesday, Na- Sergei Davidis, member of the Me-
tion's work. kept the infrastructure in place. valny thanked all the medical workers morial human rights group, was or-
he has encountered in the past year dered jailed for 10 days by a Moscow
Ivan Pavlov, a lawyer for the founda- The regional sites began their own — from those who treated him after court on Tuesday for retweeting a
tion, said it is no longer allowed to investigations of graft by local of- the poisoning to nurses in the pris- post ahead of the protest. Davidis was
use the media or the internet to dis- ficials and recruited activists, some on hospital. “After all, I understand detained Sunday.
tribute content or to organize rallies of whom later ran for public office they're (acting) within limits imposed
and public events, participate in elec- themselves. The locations also were by their superiors, and in turn by the Police also briefly detained two re-
tions or use bank deposits. instrumental in organizing nation- Kremlin. But I am seeing now that porters who covered the Moscow
wide rallies in support of Navalny people are genuinely trying to help,” protest who had to give statements
Such restrictions won't disrupt the this year. he said. about their work. Officers visited two
foundation's work, said director Ivan other journalists to discuss what they
Zhdanov, arguing that most of the re- Navalny was arrested in January upon The foundation and the regional of- did at the rally.
strictions don't apply to the anti-cor- returning from Germany, where he fices have been targeted regularly
ruption organization's activities. spent five months recovering from a with raids, fines and detentions of Some reports have suggested Mos-
nerve agent poisoning that he blames activists before, but Navalny's allies cow authorities used facial recogni-
“Some nonsense,” Zhdanov tweeted. on the Kremlin — accusations that say the extremism petition takes the tion technology to identify and detain
“(These) aren't going to influence Russian officials reject. pressure to a new level. those who attended the demonstra-
our work in any way.” tion. Amnesty International con-
His arrest triggered protests across It remains unclear what evidence the demned the reported use of facial
Still, Pavlov said he will appeal the Russia that proved to be the biggest prosecutor's office has against Naval- recognition to target protesters.
court's decision to impose the restric- show of defiance in years. But they ny's organizations because all court
tions. didn’t stop authorities from putting proceedings are taking place behind “Previously the protesters’ main risk
Navalny on trial for violating the closed doors, and some of the case was being beaten and arbitrarily de-
“It seems to me that the court hastily terms of a suspended sentence while files have been classified as secret. tained by police at a rally," said Nata-
considered and sustained this motion he was in Germany. The sentence lia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s
of the prosecutor's office,” Pavlov stemmed from a 2014 embezzlement The defense team has been reviewing Moscow office director. "As of now,
told The Associated Press, referring conviction that Navalny has charac- the files since Monday, and Pavlov avoiding this fate does not mean
to the motion that was filed Monday. terized as politically motivated. He told the AP they have not yet figured that you can feel safe -– the repres-
was ordered to serve 2½ years in pris- out exactly what implicates Navalny's sive state knows who you are and can
Navalny’s foundation started 10 years on and last month was transferred to groups. come for you at any point."
ago and has alleged high-ranking gov- a penal colony notorious for its harsh
ernment officials are corrupt by post- conditions. “So far (the authorities) have been She added that “the risk of attempting
ing colorful and widely watched vid- trying to impress us with the quantity to exercise your right to freedom of
eos on social media platforms such as Navalny said he developed severe and not the quality of the evidence peaceful assembly has never been so
YouTube. back pain and numbness in his limbs the prosecutor's office uses to sub- high in Russia.”
and began a hunger strike in order to stantiate its demand to liquidate and