Jailed Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin facing new misdemeanor charges for not including ‘foreign agent’ labels on social media posts
The Russian authorities are preparing to charge Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin, who is currently serving an 8.5-year prison sentence for spreading “disinformation” about the army, with new misdemeanor charges for failing to include “foreign agent” labels on posts he made on Telegram.
Documents from the case reference six posts that appeared on Yashin’s Telegram channel in September and October 2023. The case files also note that while Yashin could not personally have accessed the Internet from prison, he could have “organized the process of spreading information through third parties,” such as by asking his lawyer or relatives to make online posts.
The charges are set to be filed on November 8.
In a written comment sent to Meduza, Ilya Yashin said that he considers Russia’s “foreign agents” law to be fascist:
To me, the way this law is applied is reminiscent of Hitler’s Germany, where Jews (in strict accordance with the law) were required to mark their clothing with yellow stars. The Russian authorities, in turn, are forcing people who disagree with their actions to label themselves as foreign agents under threat of imprisonment.
Yashin said he refuses to label himself a “foreign agent” and that he won’t tolerate fascism.
“If there are true foreign agents in our country, we should be looking for them in the Kremlin,” he said, adding that he’s “loyal to Russia and remains a patriot even from behind bars.” He speculated that after the misdemeanor charges, the authorities may hit him with new felony charges.