Russia’s extremism trial has a sole purpose to weaken and ideally dismantle the movement in support of Navalny and democracy in Russia. This article published in Deutsche Welle is by Roman Goncharenko. Here is an excerpt:
Four months after the Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s arrest, the government appears to be working to put an end to the movement that supports him. On Monday, a closed-door trial against his organization on charges of extremism was set to begin at the Moscow City Court before it was pushed back to June 9 after the defense introduced new documents as evidence.
In the dock will be Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and the politician’s regional offices. The organization will likely be broken up and employees could face long prison sentences. A prior court decision in late April halted all political events and publication activity by the groups as well as freezing their bank accounts.
Moscow prosecutors accuse Navalny and his supporters of seeking to destabilize Russia “under the guise of liberalism.” They say the organization aims to change the “tenets of constitutional order” via “color revolution” — a term used to describe opposition protest in post-Soviet countries, such as the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. Navalny’s supporters deny the accusation.
The full article can be accessed through this link.
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