From Le Figaro with AFP
Published 2 hours ago, updated 2 hours ago
Ksenia Fadeyeva, former head of Alexei Navalny's headquarters in Tomsk. ALEXANDER NEMENOV / AFP
Ksenia Fadeïeva, a former local MP and collaborator of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, has announced that she will appeal her conviction.
An ally of jailed Russian foe Alexei Navalny, accused of “founding an extremist organization,” was sentenced to nine years in prison in Tomsk, Siberia, on Friday, her supporters said, amid unprecedented repression in Russia. The Sovetsky Court in Tomsk has “imposed 9 years in prison” on “Ksenia Fadeyeva,” a former municipal deputy, her supporters said on Telegram, assuring that her defense “will of course appeal this decision.” “What happened during this trial has nothing to do with justice,” his lawyers Semion Vodnev and Kirill Teriokhine said in a video broadcast by independent media Sota on Telegram.
31-year-old Ksenia Fadeïeva, whose trial opened in August, was accused of “founding an extremist organization” and “participating in an organization that violates the rights of citizens.” She had led Alexei Navalny's team in the city of Tomsk. Alexei Navalny was poisoned in Tomsk in 2020 during a campaign visit to his local staff. When he became seriously ill, he was transferred to Germany for treatment, then arrested and sentenced to prison upon his return to Russia. Ksenia Fadeyeva was elected to the Tomsk city council in 2020 along with other independent activists in Siberia, a rare success for the Russian opposition at the time.
Almost 20,000 Russians arrested for protesting against Kremlin policies
In 2021, Alexei Navalny's campaign teams were labeled “extremist” by authorities, putting the opponent's supporters and collaborators at risk of criminal prosecution. Although many of them left Russia, Ksenia Fadeïeva refused to go into exile and was arrested in December 2021 for organizing an “extremist” group. In June, the head of the enemy's headquarters in the central Russian city of Ufa was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for “extremism.”
Lilia Tchanycheva, an accountant, was the first employee of Alexei Navalny to be put on trial for founding an “extremist organization.” She left her job to join Navalny's Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK) in 2017 and took an active part in the anti-corruption protest movement in her region. According to the specialized NGO OVD-Info, almost 20,000 Russians have been arrested in Ukraine since the start of the conflict for protesting against Kremlin policies. Almost all major opponents are behind bars, such as Vladimir Kara-Mourza and Ilia Lachine, or in exile abroad.
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