Russia suspends activities of Kremlin critic Navalny's regional groups

[April 26, 2021]  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow prosecutors on Monday ordered regional campaign groups supporting jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to stop their activities pending a request to outlaw them and his Anti-Corruption Foundation, representatives of the groups said.

A court ruling that the groups are "extremist" would give authorities the legal power to hand down jail terms to activists and freeze the groups' bank accounts, essentially forcing them to stop campaigning for Russia's highest-profile opposition figure.

At a preliminary hearing on Monday, prosecutors asked the Moscow court to prohibit the groups from taking part in elections, organising protests or publishing anything online, said Leonid Volkov, an associate of Navalny's.

The hearings are being held behind closed doors as authorities have classified some of the case details, said lawyer Ivan Pavlov, whose legal team is handling the case.

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny attends a court hearing in Moscow, Russia February 20, 2021. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

"We all understand perfectly that there is no extremism in (our) work ... The extremism allegation is being used purely as a pretext for political repression," Volkov said.

The prosecutor has accused Navalny's groups of plotting to destabilise the political situation and working to promote a popular revolution.

(Reporting by Anton Zverev; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Katya Golubkova and Kevin Liffey)

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.