The court in Kostroma arrested in absentia the ex-coordinator of Navalny’s headquarters in the case of military fakes

The Sverdlovsk District Court of Kostroma arrested in absentia Alexander Zykov, the ex-coordinator of the local headquarters of the politician Alexei Navalny (the headquarters of Alexei Navalny was recognized as an extremist organization and banned). He is suspected of spreading fake news about the RF Armed Forces (207.3 of the RF Criminal Code). This was reported TASS with reference to the press service of the court.

“In relation to Zykov, a measure of restraint in the form of arrest was chosen. He was arrested in absentia,” the court told the agency.

Alexander Zykov, 25, ran Alexei Navalny’s regional headquarters in Kostroma and Saratov. After the headquarters network was recognized as an extremist organization in Russia, Mr. Zykov left Russia. In September 2022, he was put on the federal wanted list.

According to Mediazona (recognized as a foreign agent), the reason for initiating a criminal case against Alexander Zykov was anti-war posts on his page on Vkontakte. Initially, he was charged with disseminating fakes about the RF Armed Forces (part 1 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code), later a political motive was added to the charge and the charge was reclassified to part 2 of art. 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Olesya Pavlenko