Navalny, who is currently in prison, wrote on Twitter that he would not give up his fight even after the latest verdict. “We will continue to promote our ideas and goals. This is our country and we have no other,” he said.
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Tonight, a court in Moscow declared FBK and Navalny’s headquarters network to be extremist organizations.
But what difference does it make what we are called? We will not retreat from our goals. Please stay with us https://t.co/P9YtNaujOS— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) June 9, 2021
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The verdict fell after the hearing, which took place with the exclusion of the public, and the authorities can start applying it with immediate effect. Among other things, this means that none of the Naval Collaborators may run for public office. According to the AP agency, the Russian authorities dealt another significant blow to the opposition in this way, because they precluded a number of critics of President Vladimir Putin from the autumn elections.
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“This case is linked to a law that forbids all people associated with the Anti-Corruption Fund to stand for election,” said lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov, who represented the Navalny organization.
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The prosecutor’s office’s proposal to ban activities concerns the Naval Fund for the Fight against Corruption (FBK), the Fund for the Defense of Citizens’ Rights (FZPG), registered last year, and the civil movement of the Navalny Staffs. On April 27, the Moscow court responded to the plaintiffs and limited the activities of the funds by an interim measure, which was valid until Wednesday’s decision on the draft prosecutor’s office. In the case of staffs, the mere filing of a lawsuit was sufficient for the authorities to stop their activities.
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Representatives of the Anti-Corruption Fund are determined to appeal against the verdict within the set ten-day period. Valerija Vetoškinová, who represents the fund’s interests, told TASS.
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According to the prosecutor’s office, the organizations around Navalný are concerned with “creating conditions for the destabilization of the social and socio-political situation and the real goal of their activities is to create conditions for changing the foundations of the constitutional order.” In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office is convinced that these structures in the territory of the Russian Federation carry out the activities of foreign and international organizations whose activities in Russia have already been identified as undesirable.
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In the Russian context, both funds were labeled by the Russian authorities with a derogatory label “foreign agent” for allegedly receiving money from abroad.
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Navalny’s staffs form a network that has branches throughout Russia. They state on their website that they are involved, for example, in publishing analyzes, protecting the environment, as well as supporting independent candidates in local elections and other political campaigns.
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