In Russia, ahead of federal and regional elections, opposition candidates are being массово prosecuted in cases over the “display of extremist / Nazi symbols,” a tactic used to prevent them from taking part in voting. According to calculations by Novaya Europe, at least 21 politicians are publicly known to have lost the ability to run because of such accusations.
What triggered the cases
In 15 cases, the basis was old online posts containing photographs of Alexey Navalny, the symbols of Navalny Headquarters and Smart Voting, as well as videos from his funeral. In another five cases, politicians were accused over the use of Facebook and Instagram logos or for posting links to social networks banned in Russia.
One separate case involved Tatyana Pasman, a Yabloko deputy in the Pskov city council and a Holocaust researcher, who was fined over a caricature image of Adolf Hitler with a swastika. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the publications at issue had been posted several years earlier.
Punishments imposed
In 18 of the 21 known cases, courts handed down minimum fines ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 rubles. Recently, however, people planning to run in elections have more often been given administrative arrests. Novaya Europe reports at least three such cases: St. Petersburg activist Yaroslav Kostrov received 10 days, Ivan Apostolevsky, head of the CPRF faction in the Leningrad region’s legislative assembly, received 10 days, and Tomsk activist Anton Isakov received 15 days.
Former Russian presidential candidate Boris Nadezhdin, who had hoped to take part in the State Duma elections, was designated a “foreign agent” shortly before being fined under the “extremist” article, which had already stripped him of the right to run. On July 19, he announced that he was suspending his campaign.
Who was affected
Most often, those targeted were members of Yabloko — at least 14 politicians from St. Petersburg, Karelia, and the Pskov, Novgorod, and Kirov regions. Also stripped of the ability to participate in elections were four CPRF members from the Leningrad, Orenburg, and Omsk regions, A Just Russia activist Yaroslav Kostrov, Anton Isakov, and Boris Nadezhdin. The latter two had planned to run as independents.