17 -21 January 2025
by Lev Shlosberg
Source: Telegram
18+ GENUINE MATERIAL (INFORMATION) HAS BEEN PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED BY FOREIGN AGENT LEV MARKOVICH SHLOSBERG OR CONCERNS THE ACTIVITY OF FOREIGN AGENT LEV MARKOVICH SHLOSBERG [This capitalised text is published by Lev Shlosberg as a requirement imposed by Russia’s foreign agent legislation and is reproduced here for information purposes only – to illustrate the repressive nature of Russian law – RiR]
17 January 2025
In Pskov Oblast, the adventures of the missing “tags” continue. Andrei Semenov, an investigator for high-profile cases at the Pskov Oblast Investigative Committee asked me to come in and this morning issued an indictment order in the case of my alleged “failure to carry out the obligations of a foreign agent”. Thus, my status changed. The Investigative Committee hastened to inform me of this, and so I will comment.
Nothing unexpected has occurred. The transition from suspected to charged is an intermediate stage in investigative actions. This is not a bill of indictment, which is approved by the prosecutor’s office before sending the case to trial. This is a standard action.
No new questions were asked. I confirmed that I wholly do not admit my guilt, and the investigation was presented with all the necessary proof.
The investigator also issued an order “on the selection of pretrial restrictions in the form of an undertaking not to leave and proper conduct,” in which he wrote that since I had “not violated the measure of procedural constraint in the form of the obligation to appear, the investigation believes that… a pretrial restriction may be chosen that does not involve incarceration.” My free movement has been restricted to Pskov Oblast, and outside its borders upon notification of the prosecutor.
My defense and I continue to insist on and defend my rights by all the legal means we have. I am grateful to everyone who has been worrying about me and supporting me.
The legislation “on foreign influence” is totally unlawful and repressive and should be repealed. If we could sort out the havoc in our heads, then the country would live humanely, and it would become clear that the agents aren’t foreign, they are Russians, citizens and patriots of their country.
Source: Telegram, 17 January 2025
21 January 2025
In conversation with Liza Anikina and Nikita Vasilenko on the “Morning About-Turn” program on the Zhivoy Gvozd channel, we discussed the charge brought against me for “failure to carry out the obligations of a foreign agent”, the consequences of repressive policy for the country, and the future of civil rights in Russia.
Why has the charge of “failure to carry out the obligations of a foreign agent” become part of the regime’s repressive strategy? How is the status of “foreign agent” being turned into an instrument of unnatural political struggle? What steps is Yabloko’s Pskov team taking to defend my rights and the rights of other citizens in these conditions?
How do modern technologies and media change the perception of people and society as a whole? Why does the real-time mode lower the barrier of sensitivity but at the same time open up new horizons for the awareness of global problems? What should civil society’s answer be to information challenges?
How are we to fight the political apocalypse, and why does history teach that not a single difficult period lasts forever? Is the restoration of humanism and morality in politics possible? What does the return to democratic values mean for Russia, and how might it come about?
Lev Shlosberg on the indictment, the repressions, and the challenges of the information age / @zhivoygvozd:
Translated by Marian Schwartz
