Moscow, June 2, LETA – AFP. The upper house of the Russian parliament – the Federation Council – on Wednesday approved by a large majority a bill that is expected to prevent imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny from running in the elections.
The law prohibits the candidacy of leaders, members and supporters of organizations declared extremist or terrorist, but is clearly directed against the Navalny Regional Headquarters Network and the Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK) he founded.
The Russian authorities are trying to stifle Navalny’s activities ahead of the September parliamentary elections. A Russian court is currently considering a case concerning the recognition of the Navalny regional headquarters network and the FBK as extremist organizations. The decision could be made as early as next week.
In the Federation Council, the bill was supported by 146 senators, one voted against and one abstained. The bill will now be submitted to Russian President Vladimir Putin for signature.
The bill will ban leaders of extremist groups from running in parliamentary elections for five years and members and sponsors of those organizations for three years.
The bill could affect not only the functioning of the Navalny political network, but also the tens of thousands of people who supported it with donations.
If the court upholds the prosecution’s claim, as it is likely to be, the organizations associated with Navalny will be banned and prosecuted against their employees, as well as people who have donated money to them and distributed their materials.
Founded in 2011, FBK investigates corruption among officials by regularly publishing its findings, often in YouTube video format.
The network of regional headquarters was set up during the Navalny pre-election campaign before the 2018 presidential election, although the opposition leader was barred from participating in the election.
The network later backed the investigation into electoral fraud and promoted a so-called smart voting strategy, which the Putin regime apparently feared ahead of the autumn parliamentary elections.
Navalny is currently serving a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for allegedly violating the terms of a suspended prison sentence handed down to him in 2014 while receiving treatment in Germany after being poisoned by a war substance belonging to the Novičok group. Navalni believes that the Kremlin is behind his poisoning.
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