Week-ending 8 January 2021
Opposition activist Yevgeny Chupov, who fled Russia in 2019 fearing possible prosecution for his political activities, has received refugee status in Bulgaria. RFE/RL reports that Chupov created a civil movement in Moscow in 2015 promoting local self-governance and during the municipal elections campaign in 2019 supported a candidate for the Moscow city council, Ivan Zhdanov, who was director and lawyer of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation. Chupov fled Russia after police detained and questioned him at least twice.
Source:
RFE/RL, 5 January 2021: Russian opposition activist Yevgeny Chupov, who fled Russia in 2019 fearing possible prosecution for his political activities, has received refugee status in Bulgaria. Chupov told RFE/RL on January 5 that Bulgaria’s State Agency on Refugees had ruled he, his wife, and four children could remain in Bulgaria. According to Chupov, his initial application filed in August 2019 was rejected but the agency changed the ruling before his appeal was considered by the Sofia city administrative court.
