Police in Moscow have detained Aleksei Fedyarov, the top lawyer at the human rights group Russia Behind Bars, on suspicion of facilitating a bribe.
The Zamoskvorechye district court in the Russian capital told RFE/RL on February 5 that Fedyarov may face house arrest as a pretrial restriction.
No further details were given.
Fedyarov may face house arrest as a pretrial restriction. No further details were given.
The move comes four months after the Justice Ministry declared the founder and head of Russia Behind Bars, Olga Romanova, a “foreign agent.”
Russia Behind Bars, which was itself listed as a “foreign agent” in 2018, advocates for protecting the rights of people held in pretrial detention centers, prisons, and penal colonies.
Since the start of Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the NGO has actively covered the Russian military’s recruitment of inmates from prisons and penal colonies to fight in Ukraine.
Russia Behind Bars revealed last year that Russia was sending female inmates to work in occupied regions of eastern Ukraine.
As the NGO’s top lawyer, Fedyarov defended Kirill Serebrennikov, who in 2020 was convicted on embezzlement charges that he and his supporters rejected. He was sentenced to three years of probation and a three-year ban on leading any cultural institution with governmental support.
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Russian Rights Lawyer Detained On Suspicion Of ‘Facilitating’ A Bribe
