A judge in the republic of Bashkortostan on Tuesday sentenced a journalist and activist to 12 years in prison over her past ties to Alexei Navalny’s banned political organization and for spreading “fakes” about the Russian military.
Judge Rafis Nabiyev of the Kirov District Court in the city of Ufa found Olga Komleva, 46, guilty of being involved with an “extremist” organization and spreading “false information” about the country’s armed forces, the exiled news outlet Mediazona reported.
State prosecutors had requested a 13-year sentence for Komelva earlier this month. The exact details of the case against her are unknown, as the trial was held behind closed doors.
Komleva, who was arrested in March 2024, volunteered at the regional branch of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) for several years before the group was outlawed as “extremist” in 2021, according to Mediazona. Police had detained her at pro-Navalny rallies that year and she was fined multiple times.
Komleva also worked as a journalist for the independent media outlet RusNews, covering a wave of protests in Bashkortostan last year.
She was earlier added to Russia’s registry of “terrorists and extremists” and designated a “foreign agent.”
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