Russian activist faces police charges for posting video on Facebook that shows her civic movement's logo

Police in Krasnodar are pressing misdemeanor charges against Yana Antonova, a pediatric surgeon and the regional coordinator for the “Open Russia” protest movement, because she shared a video on Facebook showing an appeal to the State Duma asking for federal subsidies to build 10 new schools in the city. What was the problem with the video? It featured Open Russia’s logo.

According to Radio Liberty, Antonova is being charged with “carrying out the activities of an undesirable organization” and faces a fine as high as 15,000 rubles ($225).

In April 2017, the Attorney General’s Office banned the British entity “Open Russia Civic Movement” as an “undesirable organization.” Representatives of the Open Russia movement in Russia claim they have no connection to the banned British organization, saying they receive no foreign funds.

The Attorney General’s Office has promised that its decision shouldn’t affect the work of the Russian movement, but Russian censors have nonetheless blocked Open Russia’s website, as well as another resource linked to former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, MBKh-Media, and the group’s activists have been fined several times for participating in the activities of an “undesirable organization.”