Human rights defenders recognize resident of Adygea as a political prisoner

Viktoriya Goncharova, an animal rights activist from Adygea, was sentenced to imprisonment without actual evidence of her participation in the “Right-Wing Sector”*, claims the human rights project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial”. The human rights defenders demanded to stop the criminal prosecution of Viktoriya Goncharova and release her.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on June 2, it became known that the Maikop City Court sentenced Viktoriya Goncharova to 6.5 years of imprisonment, recognizing her as a member of the “Right-Wing Sector”* and guilty of disseminating deliberately false information about the Russian Armed Forces.

The human rights defenders note that “there are great doubts that in 2022, while staying in Russia, Viktoriya Goncharova could joined the Ukrainian organization “Right-Wing Sector”*.” “After 2015, the “Right-Wing Sector”* significantly lost even the small influence it had, and its real activity in Russia was never known,” says the human rights defenders’ report.

Law enforcers only reported that “Viktoriya Goncharova displayed flags on her social network page and “advertised” the organization among her friends.” Such actions “do not constitute evidence of actual entry into the ‘Right-Wing Sector’*,” and in addition, “we may talk about the insignificance of this activity and the absence of a real social danger from it.” “We believe that public expression of sympathy for the organization is not identical to joining and belonging to it, but is an exercise of the right to freedom of expression,” emphasized the human rights defenders.

They point out that although membership in the “Right-Wing Sector”* formally falls under an article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, only a socially dangerous act is a crime.

*The organization is recognized as extremist, and its activities are banned in the territory of the Russian Federation.