13 Years in Prison: Bashkortostan Activist Faces Harsh Sentencing for Navalny Affiliation

State prosecutors are pursuing a 13-year prison term for a journalist and activist in Bashkortostan due to her connections with Alexei Navalny’s banned political movement and for allegedly disseminating “false information” regarding the Russian military.

Olga Komleva volunteered at the regional branch of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) for several years until the organization was declared “extremist” in 2021, as reported by the exiled news outlet Mediazona. She was detained during pro-Navalny demonstrations that same year, resulting in multiple fines.

Additionally, Komleva has been a journalist for the independent media outlet RusNews, where she reported on a series of protests in Bashkortostan last year.

Her trial is taking place behind closed doors at the Kirovsky District Court in Ufa, with a ruling anticipated on July 24.

Komleva’s husband, Vyacheslav, expressed to RusNews that he was not shocked by the prosecution’s demand for such a severe sentence for his wife.

“She’s being punished because they have nothing else,” he stated following Friday’s hearing. “When the prosecution lacks substantial evidence, they resort to requesting these grotesque and inhumane sentences… Any rational individual can recognize the nature of this trial.”

Komleva was previously listed in Russia’s registry of “terrorists and extremists” and has been designated a “foreign agent.”