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Nikolai Bondarenko, a Communist Party candidate for Russia’s parliament, is arrested over a Navalny photo tied to an ‘extremist symbols’ charge

Source: Vedomosti

Police in Saratov detained Nikolai Bondarenko, a Communist Party (KPRF) candidate for Russia’s State Duma and a former lawmaker in the Saratov regional legislature, on Friday, August 21.

Bondarenko told the Russian business daily Vedomosti that he is being charged under an administrative statute covering the display of “extremist symbols.” He did not specify what exactly the charge referred to.

“Ten police officers detained me and brought me to court by force,” Bondarenko said.

Update: Yuri Afonin, first deputy chairman of the KPRF’s Central Committee, said the case against Bondarenko stems from a 2024 social media post featuring a photo of opposition politician Alexey Navalny. The post was made from an account that does not belong to Bondarenko, Afonin said.
Update 2: The court fined Bondarenko 1,000 rubles on an administrative charge of displaying extremist symbols. The legal aid project Slovo Zashchite reported the fine. Article 20.3 of Russia’s Code of Administrative Offenses, under which Bondarenko was fined, now bars him from running for office for a year.

Bondarenko is running for the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, on the Communist Party’s party list. An administrative penalty under the “extremist symbols” statute would disqualify him from running.

Bondarenko is well known for his social media presence. His videos criticizing the Russian government draw hundreds of thousands of likes.

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