Polyudova fails to challenge verdict for justifying Basaev's and Maskhadov's activities

The Russia's Supreme Court (SC) has denied the complaint lodged by Darya Polyudova, an activist from the Krasnodar Territory, against her six-year sentence on charges of justifying the activities of Chechen separatist leaders.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 31, 2021, a military court in Moscow sentenced Polyudova, the leader of the "Left Resistance" movement, to six years in a regular penal colony for her social network posts, in which Darya, according to the court, had allegedly justified the activities of the Chechen field commanders, Shamil Basaev and Aslan Maskhadov, as well as Evgeny Manyurov, who in December 2019, opened fire near the FSB building in Moscow. The defence insists that Polyudova made no direct calls for terrorism.

The human rights organization Amnesty International recognized Darya Polyudova to be a "prisoner of conscience".

On March 16, the Russia's SC upheld Darya Polyudova's verdict, handed down by the Second Western Regional Court of Moscow, the "Kavkaz.Realii"* has written with reference to Leonid Solovyov, a Darya's advocate.

Let us remind you that in December 2021, it became known that a new criminal case had been initiated against Polyudova. According to the FSB, the activist had created the movement aiming to publicly justify terrorism and extremism.

*The outlet has been included by the Russian Ministry of Justice into the list of the foreign media that act as a foreign agent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 17, 2022 at 04:55 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.