The activists are being prosecuted for violating ‘sanitation’ rules in their local area after they called for people to join a demonstration in support of Aleksei Navalny on 23 January
Memorial Human Rights Centre, in accordance with international guidelines, considers the criminal prosecution of Nizhny Novgorod activists Natalia Rezontova and Roman Tregubov unlawful and politically motivated.
We believe the prosecution of Rezontova and Tregubov is solely related to their political views and their exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
Their prosecution is in violation of the right to a fair trial and is intended to put an end to the public activities of those who criticise the authorities and to intimidate supporters of Aleksei Navalny.
We demand that the charges against Rezontova and Tregubov be dropped immediately and that those responsible for the unlawful prosecution of the Nizhny Novgorod opposition activists be brought to justice.
Who is being prosecuted in the Nizhny Novgorod ‘sanitation case’ and what exactly are the charges?
Natalia Rezontova, a Nizhny Novgorod activist and journalist, and Roman Tregubov, a former coordinator of Navalny's local headquarters (in June 2021 Navalny's headquarters were declared extremist organisations and dissolved), are accused of violating sanitation standards under Article 236, Part 1, of the Russian Criminal Code (which carries a penalty of up to two years’ imprisonment). The grounds for the criminal prosecution were that a week earlier Rezontova and Tregubov had called for people to take part in a protest in solidarity with opposition activist Aleksei Navalny, who had been arrested on his return to Russia on 17 January 2021.
Tregubov left Russia in February 2021.
On 1 March 2021 a court imposed pre-trial restrictions on Rezontova in the form of a ban on certain actions.
Why Memorial considers their prosecution politically motivated?
More information about this case and the position of Memorial Human Rights Centre is available on our website.
Recognition of an individual as a victim of a politically motivated prosecution does not imply Memorial Human Rights Centre agrees with, or approves of, their views, statements, or actions.
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