An ally of imprisoned Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny, accused of having “created an extremist organization”was sentenced, Friday, December 29, to nine years in prison in Tomsk, Siberia, her supporters announced, in a context of unprecedented repression in Russia.
The court of the Sovetsky district (administrative district) of Tomsk “inflicted nine years in prison on Ksenia Fadeeva”a former municipal deputy, made her support known on Telegram, ensuring that her defense would “of course appeal this decision”.
Accused of having “created an extremist organization” and to have participated “to an organization violating the rights of citizens”Ksenia Fadeeva, 31, whose trial began in August, had led Alexeï Navalny’s team in the city of Tomsk.
Alexei Navalny was poisoned in this city in 2020 while making a pre-election support visit to his local collaborators. Seriously ill, he was then transferred for treatment to Germany, then arrested and sentenced to prison on his return to Russia.
Refusal to go into exile
Ksenia Fadeeva was elected to the Tomsk city council in 2020 with other independent activists in Siberia, a rare success for the Russian opposition at the time. In 2021, Mr. Navalny’s campaign teams were declared “extremists” by the authorities, exposing the opponent’s sympathizers and collaborators to the risk of criminal prosecution. Although many of them left Russia, Ksenia Fadeeva refused to go into exile. She was arrested in December 2021 for organizing a group “extremist”.
In June, the head of the opponent’s headquarters in the city of Ufa, in central Russia, was already sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for “extremism”. Lilia Tchanycheva, an accountant, was the first collaborator of Mr. Navalny to be tried for creating a “extremist organization”. She left her job to join Mr. Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Fund 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 policies. Almost all major opponents are behind bars, such as Vladimir Kara-Mourza and Ilia Yashin, or in exile abroad.