MOSCOW: Russian authorities Tuesday raided the homes of two former local heads of banned regional network of jailed politician Alexei Navalny with one facing up to 12 years in jail.
The move came on a day that saw Russia’s Supreme Court ordering the closure of Memorial International, the country’s top rights group.
Russia in June branded Navalny’s political organisations “extremist”, prompting his team to shut down the regional network that supported his political campaigns and corruption investigations.
Almost all of his top allies have since fled the country.
Leonid Volkov, the ex-head of the regional network, said Tuesday that investigators had raided the homes of the former office coordinators in the Siberian regions of Irkutsk and Tomsk — Zakhar Sarapulov and Ksenia Fadeyeva, who is also a local lawmaker.
Volkov, who now resides in EU member Lithuania, said on Telegram that the pair were later brought in for questioning.
He added that Navalny’s allies had also lost contact with a third ex-coordinator in the Siberian region of Altai.
“Ksenia Fadeyeva and Zakhar Sarapulov are the best people of Russia — true patriots and worthy citizens,” Volkov wrote.
Navalny ally Ivan Zhdanov, who also left Russia earlier this year, tweeted that Fadeyeva had been charged with creating or participating in an extremist organisation while using an official position.
The charge carries a penalty of between seven and 12 years in prison.
Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s top domestic opponent, last August survived a near-fatal poisoning.
He was touring Siberia in support of opposition candidates for local office. Fadeyeva, 29, won election the next month.
Last month authorities arrested the head of Navalny’s now-disbanded office in the central region of Bashkortostan, Lilia Chanysheva.
She faces between six and 10 years in prison on charges of creating an extremist organisation.
Critics say Navalny’s decision to return to Russia in January following treatment in Germany triggered an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition, independent media and rights organisations.
Navalny was jailed in February on old embezzlement charges.
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