A Russian court has convicted Rostov civic activist Anastasia Shevchenko of taking part in an NGO which the state has declared ‘undesirable’ and passed a four-year suspended sentence. Since the ‘Open Russia’ activist had been under house arrest for over two years, and the prosecutor had demanded a real 5-year prison term, the sentence could undoubtedly have been worse. That does not make this first criminal prosecution for involvement in an ‘undesirable organization’ any the less ominous for NGOs and activists defending human rights in Russia and occupied Crimea.
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Halya Coynash: The first sentence in Russia against activist from an ‘undesirable organization’
A man walks in front of a tower of the Kremlin and the Russian Foreign Ministry building in central Moscow on Sept. 10, 2020.
