Regional activists received warnings about the illegality of Navalny's birthday rallies
The news of warnings was reported on June 2 by the Free People of Ivanovo Telegram channel. Opposition blogger Sergei Veselov was detained by the police in another city within the region. As revealed by SOTAVision, Veselov was taken to the police in Shuya, where he was accused of organizing an unauthorized rally scheduled for June 4. The grounds for the accusation were the announcement of the event on the blogger's Telegram channel. As the activist's lawyer, Oskar Cherdzhiev, says, Veselov was held overnight in the detention center.
In Glazov, teachers have been sending messages to parent chat groups, requesting to inform them of the whereabouts of their children "every minute on June 4." The communication from the city's education department was published by the Udmurtia Against Corruption project. Meanwhile, activists in Cheboksary also received warnings not to violate regulations.
Svetlana Kaverzina, a city councilor from Novosibirsk, shared that her aides, Mikhail Ryazantsev and Andrei Sivenok, received warnings from the prosecutor's office regarding the organization of an "illegal rally." Similar warnings were issued to another Novosibirsk city councilor, Anton Kartavin, and local activist Irina Selischeva.
Supporters of Alexei Navalny have announced rallies worldwide to commemorate the politician's birthday on June 4. However, preceding this, the Anti-Corruption Foundation Inc* was declared an "undesirable" organization in Russia, which may lead to further repression against its activists.
Presently, Alexei Navalny is serving his sentence in a penal colony in Vladimir. A court hearing for his extremism case is scheduled for June 6. The politician may be sentenced to 30 years in prison.
*The article references Meta Platforms Inc. and the Anti-Corruption Foundation, both of which are banned in the Russian Federation.