A Russian court on Wednesday shut down groups linked to outspoken Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny after determining they were “extremist.”
Both Navalny’s regional political offices and his Anti-Corruption Foundation, known as FBK, were ordered to be liquidated and transferred to the ownership of the Russian Federation, according to a statement from the Moscow City Court’s press service. The decision also renders all members ineligible to run for office in the future.
“The decision is subject to immediate execution in terms of the termination of the activities of these organisations,” the court wrote.
ALEXEI NAVALNY CALLS HIMSELF A ‘SKELETON’ IN POST-HUNGER STRIKE COURT APPEARANCE
The legal group representing Navalny and his allies, Team 29, railed against the decision from Russian authorities and said members of the dissident’s organizations could be subject to up to six years in prison for violating the new provisions.
“The organizations were banned from spreading any information, performing financial transactions, as well as participating in elections and organizing actions,” Team 29 wrote in a statement. “Ordinary employees of the organization, as well as those who commit ‘deliberate actions related to the continuation or renewal of the activities of this organization,’ will face up to six years in prison.”
Navalny, who has been imprisoned for months, said he was not present for the court proceedings held behind closed doors, despite him asking to be there.
“We will now figure everything out,” he said in statement posted on Instagram. “We’ll change. We’ll evolve. We’ll adapt. But we will not retreat from our goals and ideas. This is our country and we have no other.”
The U.S. State Department condemned Moscow’s ruling and said the move was “indicative of the Russian government’s widening crackdown on political opposition, civil society, and independent media.”
“We condemn today’s decision by a Moscow court to designate as “extremist” three organizations affiliated with imprisoned opposition figure Aleksey Navalny,” the agency said in a statement. “This designation puts staff members, volunteers, and thousands of supporters across Russia at risk of criminal prosecution and imprisonment for exercising fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Russian Constitution, and it further restricts the ability of opposition candidates to appear on the ballot in the September Duma elections. With this action, Russia has effectively criminalized one of the country’s few remaining independent political movements.”
Navalny was imprisoned earlier this year by Russian authorities following a ruling that found he violated the terms of his probation associated with a 2014 conviction after he arrived into the country via a flight from Berlin after recuperating in Germany from nerve-agent poisoning. In late March, the political figure announced a hunger strike to protest the conditions of imprisonment and lack of medical attention.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Three weeks later, Navalny said he ended his strike, days after he was transported to a prison hospital. The U.S. State Department continued to insist on Wednesday that the dissident “remains in poor health, imprisoned on politically fabricated grounds.”
