The “Return” action will be held in Berlin in support of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who flew to Russia from Germany on January 17, 2021, after which he was stopped at passport control. The event will start at 2:00 p.m. local time (4:00 p.m. Moscow time) on Sunday, January 16, in the German capital’s Paris Square, next to the Brandenburg Gate.
As the organizers of the Demokrati-JA association specify, it is a “solidarity action” with Navalny, as well as with “all the political and persecuted prisoners in Russia and in the other dictatorships of space post-Soviet”.
In addition, the organizers wish to express their support for “human rights activists and journalists who are being persecuted”, as well as for the employees of the International Society for History and Education “Memorial” (“MM”) and the Center for Human Rights “Memorial”, the decision to ban and liquidate which was made at the end of December 2021 years in Moscow.
Finally, the protesters plan to draw attention to the plight of nonprofit organizations and individuals who have been declared by Russian authorities as so-called “foreign agents” or “undesirable organizations.”
Solidarity actions in dozens of cities around the world
Similar actions will take place on January 16 in Hanover, Nuremberg and Stuttgart. In addition, they are planned in other countries of the world: in the United States (at least in ten cities), in Australia and New Zealand (in eight cities), in Canada, in Spain (in two cities), in Belgium, France, Switzerland, Czech Republic Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Georgia.
Poisoning of Alexei Navalny
Russian politician and opposition leader Alexei Navalny collapsed on August 20, 2020 on a plane flying from Tomsk to Moscow. After an emergency landing in Omsk, Navalny was hospitalized and two days later was taken to the Charité clinic in Berlin. He remained in an artificial coma for 19 days.
Experts from the special laboratory of the Bundeswehr, who, at the request of the clinic, examined the samples taken from the politician, found traces of a chemical warfare agent from the Novichok group in them. Experts from Sweden, France and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have independently come to the same conclusion. Moscow denies allegations of involvement in the assassination.
In mid-January 2021, after completing a rehabilitation course, Navalny returned to Russia, where he was immediately detained. The politician was charged with violating the provisions of a suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher case and arrested. On February 2, 2021, a Moscow court sent the opponent to a colony for 2 years and 8 months, finding him guilty of “violation of his suspended obligations” in the Yves Rocher case. Later, on February 20, 2021, Navalny was found guilty of defamation in a “veteran case” and fined 850,000 rubles.
Liquidation of the headquarters of the FBK and Navalny
Last June, the Moscow City Court recognized the Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK) and the Fund for the Protection of Citizens’ Rights (FZPG) associated with Navalny, as well as the public movement of Navalny’s headquarters, as extremist organizations. Non-profit organizations were liquidated and social movement activities were banned. In August, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation entered the FBK movement, FZPG and the headquarters of Navalny in the register of prohibited organizations. In September, Russia’s investigative commission opened a criminal investigation for creating an “extremist community” against an opponent already in prison and his closest supporters.
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