Navalny associate Lilia Chanysheva sentenced to 7.5 years in prison on ‘extremism’ charges

A court in Ufa sentenced Navalny associate Lilia Chanysheva to 7.5 years in prison. She was found guilty of “calling for extremism,” “creating an extremist organization” while using an official position, and “creating an organization that violates citizens’ rights.” The court also ordered her to pay a fine of 400,000 rubles (approximately $4,760). The prosecutor’s office had requested Chanysheva be sent to a penal colony for 12 years and pay a 700,000-ruble ($8,330) fine. The trial was classified as secret.

Lilia Chanysheva has been in custody since November 2021. She was the first person to be prosecuted for “creating an extremist organization,” which Navalny and his associates were charged with in September 2021. Soon after, Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation was designated an “extremist organization.” According to the investigation, Navalny’s associates conducted activities to “destabilize the conditions in the regions, encourage the population to protest and form public opinion on the need for a violent change of power.” In January 2022, Chanysheva was added to Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring list of those who have participated in extremist or terrorist activities.

Chanysheva served as the head of Navalny’s local office in the Russian city of Ufa. In 2017, she gave up her successful career as a public auditor to head Navalny’s local office in Ufa. The former chairman of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, Leonid Volkov, called Chanysheva “a threat to local crooks.” At the time of her detainment and arrest in November 2021, she was no longer working for the organization. Her husband said that she hadn’t worked for Navalny’s organization since the spring of 2021, because she was focusing on her family life. Navalny’s office in Ufa, along with the rest of his offices, were dissolved in April 2021 — before Navalny’s organization was designated “extremist.” This decision was made in order to protect staff from future criminal prosecution.

In her last statement, Chanysheva called her case political, saying that she is subject to persecution by male opponents, whose names are [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [Head of Bashkortostan] Radiy Khabirov.” She remarked that “under Khabirov, Bashkortostan [a Russian republic] began to attack civil activists and environmentalists,” while the head of the region “constantly tries to sell Bashkir natural landmarks to oligarchs, closes hospitals and underpays doctors, cheats on public procurement, and forces residents of the republic to overpay for housing and communal services.” The 41-year-old Chanysheva asked the judge to “support her as a politician and as a woman,” so that she could continue to fight against corruption in the region, and to “give her a chance to become a mother,” noting that if she received a long prison sentence, she would no longer be able to bear children after her release.

On June 19, the first hearing for Navalny’s “extremism” case will take place. The politician is charged with creating an “extremist organization,” “calling for extremism,” “creating a non-profit organization that infringes on the rights of citizens,” “financing extremism,” “involving minors in dangerous activities,” and “rehabilitating Nazism.” The criminal case against Navalny was opened in late 2022, when Navalny was already in prison. The politician was only given 10 days to review the 196 volumes worth of files on his case. Navalny’s associate Kira Yarmysh says the “extremism” case carries a possible 30-year prison sentence. The court proceedings will take place in the penal colony where Navalny is jailed, in Russia’s Vladimir region.