A democratic turning point is playing out in the Russian courts.

Justice begins Monday, May 17, to examine a request from the prosecution to qualify as "extremist" the organizations of the imprisoned opponent Alexeï Navalny.

This trial is seen by his supporters as aimed at outlawing his movement in Russia.

This first hearing of the trial, scheduled behind closed doors in the Moscow City Court, comes on the eve of the first reading in the Duma, the lower house of Parliament, of a bill prohibiting people involved in organizations classified as "extremist. "to be elected deputies.

Risk of increased imprisonment

The Russian prosecution had asked, in mid-April, to qualify several organizations linked to Alexeï Navalny as "extremists", a qualifier which incurs the opponent's collaborators and supporters with heavy prison sentences.

He himself has been in jail since January, and went on a three-week hunger strike in April.

This request targets Alexey Navalny's Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK), known for its investigations denouncing the lifestyle and embezzlement of Russian elites.

The opponent's regional offices, which deal in particular with organizing supporting demonstrations or pre-election activities, are also concerned. 

The prosecution accuses the organizations of Alexeï Navalny of seeking to "create the conditions for the destabilization of the social and socio-political situation" in Russia, "under the guise of liberal slogans".

Destroy the opposition

"The opposition will be destroyed", assures AFP an independent analyst, Abbas Galliamov, while estimating that "by destroying the opposition, they [the authorities, note] will destroy their own legitimacy".

If Alexei Navalny was not allowed to run for the Russian presidency against Vladimir Putin in 2018, the authorities tolerated the opponent's movement for years. 

Main Russian opponent and staunch defender of corruption, Alexeï Navalny intended to present candidates for the legislative elections in September or to support those of other parties most able to beat the representatives of the Kremlin party. 

But with the approach of these legislative elections, the Kremlin is trying not to give this movement any chance against the backdrop of growing population fatigue after two decades of Putin's presidency, and the worsening economic situation in the country. caused in particular by the Covid-19 epidemic.  

Thus, the Duma is supposed to examine Tuesday a bill prohibiting being elected deputy any person having occupied a position of responsibility in an organization until three years before its qualification of "extremist".

Proposed by a group of deputies from the ruling United Russia party, the text should be adopted before the legislative elections in September and will have retroactive force, according to its authors.

In addition, the network of regional offices of Alexei Navalny had already been added at the end of April to a list of "extremist and terrorist" organizations of the Russian financial intelligence service, which notably include jihadist groups Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State organization. .

In reaction, the bureaus announced their self-dissolution.

With AFP

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