OVD-Info

9 September 2024 

OVD-Info is a Russian civil society organisation that monitors politically-motivated arrests and prosecutions in Russia. Each week OVD-Info publishes a bulletin with the latest news, which is translated here. To receive the mailing in Russian, visit here.

Hello! Moscow libertarians jailed for administrative-law offences; Igor Baryshnikov, imprisoned for disseminating ‘fake news’ about the war, is to finally have an operation; and in Dagestan law enforcement called on the 95 -year-old mother of a human rights defender.

News

Homes of Moscow libertarians searched On 3 September, police officers arrived at the home of Ekaterina Mikhailova, and on 4 September that of Sergei Buryakov. In the course of Buryakov’s arrest, he was beaten for refusing to tell the arresting officers his phone password. The pair were later jailed for disobeying police orders: Mikhailova for five days, and Buryakov for six days. 

• Why is this important? At the end of August, Mikhailova requested permission to hold a rally in support of the founder of the messaging service Telegram, Pavel Durov, on Sakharov Avenue in Moscow, but her application was refused. At this point, she was visited by a district police officer who warned her she was breaking the law and this was unacceptable. It is likely that the ensuing arrests were used as a method for the authorities to intimidate those who wish to hold any sort of mass political campaigning in Russia. 

Operation planned for Igor Baryshnikov, imprisoned for ‘fake news’ about the war The medical operation will be conducted in the regional hospital at the end of September. The operation is a high priority cystotomy operation, using pipes that lead into the urinary bladder through the abdomen. In July 2023, Baryshnikov was found guilty of circulating ‘fake news’ about the Russian Army, motivated by political hatred in online posts he made relating to the war. He was sentenced to seven and a half years in a general regime penal colony. His defence lawyers demanded the sentence be quashed on account of the defendant’s poor health.   

• Why do I need to know this? Igor Baryshnikov’s health began to deteriorate rapidly while he was in prison, and according to his lawyers, had become critical by the end of December 2023. It was only in January, and as a result of a large-scale campaign of social protest, that he was given even minimal medical attention, but an operation has been consistently refused since March. In August, the UN Human Rights Committee obliged the Russian authorities to provide Baryshnikov with ‘comprehensive and necessary medical attention, to immediately provide this attention, and to protect his life and mental state.’ It would seem that this intervention was the only thing that secured the operation, it is perfectly possible that the authorities would have continued to drag their feet in this case if it had not been for the UN.  

In Dagestan police visited the elderly mother of a human rights lawyer who left Russia The 95-year-old mother of Svetlana Anokhina had a sample of her spit taken on the home visit. Anokhina believes the visit to be linked to her prosecution: she had criminal charges pressed in April 2023 for posting ‘fake news’ about the war. Anokhina emigrated in June 2021, after authorities visited the shelter for women seeking refuge from domestic violence in the town of Makhachkala, which she and her colleagues had organised.  

• Why is this important? Svetlana Anokhina commented on these events: “It is not a new practice, but in recent times it has grown to affect more and more relatives of so-called ‘militants’ and ‘terrorists’.” Beginning in the Northern Caucasus region, the practice of intimidating the relatives of those facing prosecution has grown ever more prevalent across the whole country. We covered this topic in our new special project entitled “Both Woe and Joy”, we analysed all cases known to us from 2016 to 2023, and describe in detail five stories of people whose relatives were pressured, and also discuss this with a lawyer and a psychologist. 

German filmmaker arrested during filming in Smolensk region 66-year-old Andrei Nekrasov was admitted to a detention centre for foreign citizens, where he has been since 24 August. According to him, he was arrested because his film set was located too near a building belonging to the FSB. Nekrasov claims he was not aware of this, and did not include this building in the film on purpose. He is doing preparatory work for a documentary about Russia. A court found him guilty of ‘engaging in illegal professional practices,’ and sentenced him to 90 days’ imprisonment. Nekrasov is concerned that this sentence may be extended. 

• Why do I need to know this? Andrei Nekrasov was born in St. Petersburg. In the 1970s, he married a German woman and emigrated from Russia. His works include films covering the poisoning of former FSB operative Aleksandr Litvinenko in London, as well as the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Russian remand prison. It is likely that these works were the real reason for his prosecution. “The judge’s sentence is wholly disproportionate, and this surprised even a few of the officials. They told me that the worst thing that could happen in such situations was a ‘voluntary deportation’ from Russia,” Nekrasov said. 

Features

‘Either the government’s opinion or no one’s.’ How teachers with anti-war views are being prosecuted.  The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia served to decisively militarise and subjugate Russia’s education system to propaganda. People working in education who come out against the war are met with serious pressure, not just from the bosses and those in power, but also from pro-war ‘Z’ activists. T mark this year’s Day of Knowledge, we have decided to prepare a complete account of how exactly, and to what extent, schoolchildren, teachers in higher education, and the staff of further educational institutions, are prosecuted. Read OVD-Info’s new report on the forms of pressure exerted against those in the education system who speak out against the war.

Translated by Oscar Seecharan