Anti-Kremlin activist will run for city council in Rostov-on-Don, where she's been under house arrest since January

Activist Anastasia Shevchenko has reportedly decided to run for a city-council seat in Rostov-on-Don, where she’s been under house arrest since late January. Shevchenko is the first person in Russia to be charged with the felony offense of working for an illegal “undesirable organization.” She is an activist with the “Open Russia” movement and the regional head of the “Party of Changes” (until last summer, the “Civic Initiative” party), which has endorsed her candidacy.

Specifically, Shevchenko is charged with organizing a debate in Taganrog in October 2017 and a lecture in Rostov-on-Don in April 2018. She allegedly “recognized the criminal nature and the social threat posed by her actions,” but persisted nevertheless.

On January 31, Shevchenko’s 17-year-old daughter, Alina, succumbed to complications resulting from bronchitis, and died after a long battle with lung problems.