‘Extremism’ case against Navalny’s movement reportedly classified due to security officials’ personal data

The materials in the case on designating Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (the FBK) and political movement as “extremist organizations” were classified because they contain the personal data of security officials, the newspaper Kommersant reported, citing a source in law enforcement. Allegedly, the security officials in question filed lawsuits over damages inflicted by protesters during opposition rallies. 

According to Kommersant’s journalists, they obtained materials from the lawsuit filed against Navalny’s organizations by the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office. The case materials reportedly contained several lists of people who were previously prosecuted for extremism or violating the law on conducting rallies. However, the lists included not only Navalny’s associates, but also independent politicians and ordinary citizens, whose connection to the FBK “sometimes isn’t demonstrated, not even indirectly.”

Previously, lawyers representing the FBK stated that the case materials only contain publicly available information from the Internet. 

At a Moscow City Court hearing on May 17, the FBK’s lawyers submitted a petition to declassify the materials in the criminal case. In addition, prosecutors added six new volumes to the case file. The court then postponed the proceedings until June 9. 

FBK lawyer Vladimir Voronin told Kommerasnt that he assesses the prosecutor’s office’s arguments “as an attempt at manipulation”: “The unclassified portion [of the case materials] presents a vignette of events that often have nothing to do with the FBK. The general position of the prosecutor’s office doesn’t stand up to criticism — it’s trying to interpret certain events [and] completely different facts in a favorable light.”