On the Recognition of Olga Shalina as a Political Prisoner
Human Rights Center Memorial
On the Recognition of Olga Shalina as a Political Prisoner
Olga Leonidovna Shalina is a member of the unregistered party “Other Russia”. She was convicted in the case of self-defense near Tagansky Court pursuant to Part 2, Article 213 (hooliganism, committed by a group of persons acting in preliminary collusion or by an organized group) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code. She was sentenced to a three year conditional sentence with a 4 year probation period. On 23 December 2011 the judgment on the conditional term was replaced with three years imprisonment. Olga was arrested on 27 April 2012 at church, during the christening of her nephews.
On 13 April 2006 near the Tagansky District Court building in Moscow, armed participants of the youth pro-Kremlin movements “Mestnye” (“Locals”) and “Nashi” (“Ours”) attacked Eduard Limonov and his supporters. Despite the greater number of attackers, the opposition members managed to detain some of them and hand them over to police officers. However, after a short while the assailants were declared victims, whom the national-Bolsheviks had allegedly attacked in an act of hooliganism. Seven activists were detained, placed in the investigative isolation ward, and sentenced on 24 March 2008. Shalina, having been on the federal wanted list for 5 years, voluntarily presented herself to an investigator in spring, 2011. On 22 April 2011 she was sentenced in the Tagansky District Court to a three year conditional sentence with a 4 year probation period. Shalina regularly registered at her inspector, resided at the place of registration, and found official work.
On 23 December 2011, judge Yu.V. Chernikova delivered a judgment in absentia on the repeal of the conditional term, sentencing Shalina to three years imprisonment. The judgment was based on the grounds that in November 2011 Shalina failed to pay a 200 ruble fine for crossing the street in the wrong place. Shalina was arrested and given five days. The court also referred to a decision from September 2011, giving Shalina an administrative fine of 500 rubles pursuant to Art. 20.1 (disorderly conduct) of the Russian Federation Administrative Offenses Code. Shalina appealed, which, however, is denied by the court (Shalina was arrested for being located in the city center during the “United Russia” congress). It is known that Aleksei Okopny, an employee of the Center of Combating Extremism, participated in this ruling, as well as in further two convictions pursuant to Art. 20.2 (breach of the order of organization or conducting of a meeting, protest, demonstration, procession or picketing) of the Russian Federation Administrative Offenses Code which had not entered into force at the time of the hearing. Shalina was arrested on 27 April 2012.
We consider the criminal persecution of Olga Shalina illegal and politically motivated, as are the criminal persecutions of other supporters of Eduard Limonov, subjected to an attack by armed pro-Kremlin movement activists near Tagansky Court. The national-Bolsheviks' self-defense was unreasonably taken for hooliganism towards the participants of the “Mestnye” and “Nashi” movements, and was part of the series of attacks on national-Bolsheviks in 2005-2006. The hooligans, detained by police officers with the participation of national-Bolsheviks, were declared the victims.
Furthermore, the repeal of the conditional punishment with respect to the alleged breach by Shalina of social order is illegal. According to the information we have, employees of the Center of Combating Extremism, including Aleksei Okopny, exerted pressure on the inspector of the criminal-executive inspection.
Both the concrete facts of the administrative cases, and the existing practice of catching citizen activists under Art. 20.2 of the Russian Federation Administrative Offenses Code, allows for certainty in considering the basis of the replacement of Shalina's conditional term as unfounded and politically motivated.
Human Rights Center Memorial considers Olga Shalina to be a political prisoner.
Information on the political prisoner Olga Shalina can be found at (in Russian): http://www.memo.ru/d/118997.html.
5 July 2012