Unprecedented repression continues in Russia. This Monday opens the trial of an ally of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, accused of having “created an extremist organization”, in Tomsk, Siberia. “The Sovetsky court in Tomsk has begun to examine the case of Ksenia Fadeïeva”, declared the spokeswoman for this judicial body Larissa Markina. Shortly after its opening, the hearing during which the prosecution read the indictment, was suspended until Tuesday to allow a new lawyer for the accused to take cognizance of the case, i.e. 90 volumes , according to local media.
Accused of having “created an extremist organization” and of “participating in an organization undermining the rights of citizens”, Ksenia Fadeïeva, 31, is a former municipal deputy who led the team of Alexei Navalny in the city from Tomsk. Alexei Navalny was poisoned in Tomsk in 2020 during a pre-election support visit to his local aides. Seriously ill, he was then transferred for treatment in Germany and then arrested and sentenced to prison on his return to Russia.
Extremism as a repressive banner
Ksenia Fadeïeva had been elected in 2020 to the city council of Tomsk with other independent activists in Siberia, a rare success for the Russian opposition at the time. In 2021, Alexei Navalny’s campaign teams were declared “extremist” by the authorities, exposing supporters and collaborators of the opponent to the risk of criminal prosecution.
If many of them left Russia, Ksenia Fadeïeva had refused to go into exile and was arrested in December 2021 for having organized an “extremist” group. His trial also comes after the conviction of Alexei Navalny for “extremism”, which he described as an attempt by the Kremlin to deprive the Russians of any “will to resist” in the 18th month of the military offensive in Ukraine.
Nearly 20,000 Russians arrested since war in Ukraine
In June, the head of the opposition headquarters in the city of Ufa, in central Russia, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for “extremism”. Lilia Tchanycheva, a 41-year-old accountant, was the first collaborator of Alexei Navalny to be tried for creating an “extremist organization”. She had given up her job to join Alexeï Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK) in 2017, actively participating in the protest movement against corruption in her region.
According to the specialized NGO OVD-Info, nearly 20,000 Russians have been arrested since the start of the conflict in Ukraine for protesting against Kremlin policy. More than 670 criminal cases have been launched against the dissidents, according to the organization. Almost all major opponents are behind bars, such as Vladimir Kara-Mourza and Ilya Iachine, or in exile abroad.