Prosecution demands five years in prison for Andrei Pivovarov

The prosecutor has asked to sentence Andrei Pivovarov, a former executive director of the "Open Russia"*, to five years in prison and to ban him from being elected to power bodies for eight years, his advocate has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Andrei Pivovarov was detained on May 31, 2021, in Saint Petersburg, and has been kept in custody in Krasnodar since June 2, 2021. His defence's complaint against the arrest was dismissed by the court, although his advocates presented proofs that the repost in the social network, for which the inquiry is underway, was made not by Pivovarov.

At the debates at the Leninsky District Court of Krasnodar, the prosecutor demanded to sentence Pivovarov, a former director of the "Open Russia"* to five years in a general security colony, the "OVD-Info"** outlet has reported today.

Sergey Badamshin, one of Pivovarov's advocates, has confirmed this information. "During the parties' debates, the prosecutor demanded to sentence Andrei to five years in prison," the "Interfax" has quoted Sergey Badamshin as saying. The advocate has added that the prosecutor also asked to ban Pivovarov from being elected to power bodies for eight years.

Earlier, Pivovarov himself previously linked his criminal prosecution to the elections that were held in the fall of 2021. International human rights organizations called on the UN to influence Russian authorities in order to achieve Andrei Pivovarov's liberation.

*The activities of two organizations registered in the UK, containing the words "Open Russia" in their titles, have been found by the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) as undesirable in Russia.

**By decision of the Russian Ministry of Justice, the outlet was put on the list of unregistered public associations performing the functions of a foreign agent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 7, 2022 at 06:39 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.