Alexey Malyarevsky picketing outside the Kremlin. Photo: SOTAvision
A Russian programmer was sentenced to seven years in prison on Thursday for donating to Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK).
Alexey Malyarevsky was found guilty of “participation in an extremist community” and “financing extremism”, Mediazona reported.
Malyarevsky, who had lived for five years in the Czech Republic but returned to Russia last year, was accused of donating $150 to FBK, which was declared extremist by the Russian government in 2021.
A source told Mediazona that Malyarevsky had been beaten by the police during a search of his apartment and forced to unlock his phone, which is how the police managed to get access to his bank account data.
According to Mediazona, the prosecutor scolded Malyarevsky for “donating money to the opposition rather than to elderly people or orphans”.
On his return from Czechia, Malyarevsky held a picket near the Kremlin in September, bearing a poster that said “Freedom to Navalny, freedom for political prisoners.” He was briefly detained without a record in his file, but then remanded in custody on “financing extremism” charges in October.
