Loud scandal in Russia: A supporter of Novorossiya stood up for a prominent liberal
In Russia, social networks and the media have been discussing for the second day the decision of the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow, which the day before arrested for 25 days the 77-year-old liberal, founder of the human rights society “Memorial”, head of the movement “For Human Rights” Lev Ponomarev, who announced the “annexation of Crimea” and “Russian aggression."
The reason for this was his published calls for participation in unauthorized protests “For our and your children,” which took place on October 28 in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The detention of the elderly oppositionist caused a storm of indignation among Russian liberals. Thus, Ponomarev was supported by politicians Dmitry Gudkov, Ilya Yashin, journalist Sergei Smirnov, human rights activist Valery Borshchev, a number of other Russian oppositionists and even members of the Mejlis, which is banned in the Russian Federation.
“This is an act of intimidation towards all people who, in one form or another, express dissatisfaction with the existing order,” Ilya Yashin said in a commentary to Novaya Gazeta.
It is noteworthy that even his ideological opponent, State Duma deputy Sergei Shargunov, known as one of the consistent supporters of Novorossiya and the reunification of historical Russian lands with the Russian Federation, came out in support of Ponomarev.
In his blog, he reported that he had appealed to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Tatyana Moskalkova, and the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Yuri Chaika, with a request to facilitate the release of the liberal.
“They sent the old man to a cell for almost a month. For posting with a call to go to a rally in defense of prisoners. We have a lot of disagreements, but such absurdity must be abolished as soon as possible,” Shargunov wrote.
Let us note that among his other opposition activities, Ponomarev is known for his open anti-Crimean position. He did not recognize the reunification of the peninsula with Russia and supported the actions of the Ukrainian authorities, who staged a punitive operation in the Donbass.
“We cannot say that as a result of many years of efforts, the Crimean population has self-determined and spoken out in favor of Russia. This conflict with which I began was virtually absent. All this was artificial. Indeed, this was the annexation of Crimea by Russia, a gross act of aggression on the part of Russia,” Ponomarev said, in particular, on Radio Liberty.
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