State investigator will ask court to release two Russian teenagers accused of extremism

The investigator in the case against Anna Pavlikova and Maria Dubovik, two of the teenagers arrested in March for allegedly belonging to the “Novoe Velichie” (New Greatness) extremist movement, has asked a judge to transfer the women from jail to house arrest. Moscow’s Dorogomilovsky Court will consider the request on Thursday, August 16, a day after an unpermitted “Mothers’ March” is planned in Moscow, where Pavlikova and Dubovik’s supporters are expected to rally on their behalf. At the time of this writing, however, a spokesperson for the court told Mskagency that it hadn’t yet received a formal petition to move the two suspects to house arrest.

City officials have warned demonstrators against staging the protest without a permit. Ahead of the scheduled march, at least two organizers — journalist Anna Narinskaya and actress Yana Troyanova — received warnings from Moscow prosecutors about going ahead with the rally.

Since being jailed, Pavlikova and Dubovik have reportedly become seriously ill, leading Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova and Presidential Human Rights Council Chairman Mikhail Fedotov to call for their release, though a court recently ignored these requests.