15:44, 12 July 2022

Krasnodar activist leaves Russia due to threat of criminal prosecution

Evgeny Bukhantsev. Photo from his page on the VKontakte https://vk.com/id6130282

Evgeny Bukhantsev, an activist from Krasnodar, has left Russia for the United States, explaining his departure by the threat of persecution under a criminal article about discrediting Russian militaries. In Russia, the activist faces up to three years in prison, his advocate has pointed out.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in April Bukhantsev was detained with a poster demanding truthful information. The court fined him, finding him guilty of discrediting the Russian Army. On May 17, law enforcers again detained Bukhantsev, who had gone to a pacifist picket near the administration building of the Krasnodar Territory.

According to Bukhantsev, he was forced to leave for the United States because of the threat of criminal prosecution after his two pacifist pickets. "The Russian reality is such that if you oppose, you may end up behind bars. This is despite the fact that the Constitution guarantees me both the freedom of speech and the freedom to hold peaceful actions," the "OVD-Info"* project has quoted Evgeny Bukhantsev as saying.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 12, 2022 at 11:59 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: Caucasian Knot