Navalny support network ordered to stop Russia-wide activities

  • 2021-04-26 16:41:14
A Russian prosecutor has ordered the network of offices supporting jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny to suspend all activities across Russia. The Moscow prosecutor also applied to a court to suspend the work of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). They are moving to label the groups as "extremist", which would allow the authorities to jail activists and freeze the groups' bank accounts. The German government has condemned the move as contrary to the rule of law. Last week Navalny - Russia's most prominent opposition figure - announced he was ending a hunger strike after 24 days of refusing food in jail. Hours earlier his private doctors appealed to him to eat to preserve his life and health. The AFP says that, with Navalny now in a penal colony east of the city, the authorities are moving to close down all of his team's activities. Some of his supporters have been planning to run in parliamentary elections in September. The prosecutor has alleged that Navalny's network is trying to destabilise Russia and foment a revolution. Navalny's team, meanwhile, condemned the move as an attempt to destroy peaceful political opposition in Russia. They say they are establishing how to go on operating - but admit it is too dangerous to openly defy this suspension.

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