Russian court sentences activist Olga Misik to two years of restricted freedom

On May 11, a Russian justice of the peace found three activists from the “Termless Protest” movement (“Bessrochny Protest”) guilty of vandalism and sentenced them to restrictions on freedom, OVD-Info reported.

Activist Olga Misik — who became well-known for reading the Russian constitution to riot police amid the Moscow City Duma protests in 2019 — was handed this parole-like sentence for a period of two years and two months. Her fellow activists, Ivan Vorobyovsky and Igor Basharimov, were sentenced to restrictions on freedom for one year and nine months. 

As the Telegram channel Sota specifies, Misik is prohibited from leaving her home between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. — the same restrictions apply to Vorobyovsky and Basharimov between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.

The felony vandalism case was opened over a protest rally on August 8, 2020, during which a poster in support of the convicted defendants in the “New Greatness” extremism case was pasted on the booth at the entrance to the Russian Attorney General’s Office in Moscow; the booth itself was doused in pink dye. 

According to lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov from OVD-Info, who represented Misik in the trial, the protest didn’t cause any lasting damage: “The booth wasn’t damaged, since the dye turned out to be easily washed off, and the security guards removed the poster immediately. Therefore, there is no damage.” Zakhvatov also claimed that the prosecutors falsified the documents from the Attorney General’s Office, in order to prove that damage was caused to the building.

During the investigation, the suspects in the case were kept under measures of restraint. Since August 10, 2020, the three activists have been prohibited from leaving their homes in the evening and at night, had to remain 10 meters (33 feet) away from government buildings, and have been banned from attending public gatherings and using communication technologies.