Yekaterinburg Human Rights Defender Faces Treason Charges Amid Crackdown on Activism

A judge in Yekaterinburg has ordered the pre-trial detention of local human rights advocate Alexei Sokolov following his arrest on charges of treason, as reported by the exiled news outlet Mediazona on Thursday.

Sokolov, who has been a long-time critic of torture and mistreatment of inmates in Russia, mentioned to reporters prior to the court decision that the authorities accuse him of leaking information regarding prison abuse to «foreign organizations.»

According to him, the Russian government considers this information sharing a «threat to national security.»

Sokolov explained that he was collecting data for the UN’s Committee Against Torture to lodge complaints concerning Russia.

In Russia, treason charges can result in a life sentence for men, while women may receive a maximum of 20 years.

Sokolov was taken into custody on Tuesday, and law enforcement also searched his home as part of a separate investigation into his alleged ties to an organization deemed «undesirable» in Russia.

The specific organization to which the activist is believed to have connections has not been disclosed, though his own rights group, the Legal Foundation, remains legal in the country.

On the same day as Sokolov’s arrest, authorities apprehended two additional rights advocates in the Ural region — Roman Kachanov and Larisa Zakharova, both affiliated with the Ural Human Rights Defenders organization.

The pair, also active in prisoner advocacy, face charges related to their alleged ties to an «undesirable organization.»

Additionally, the Leninsky District Court in Yekaterinburg is currently reviewing a separate case against Sokolov for «repeatedly displaying extremist symbols» on his Telegram channel. Mediazona reports that the symbol in question is the Facebook logo.

In 2022, Russia classified Meta, Facebook’s parent company, as a “terrorist and extremist” entity after it was criticized for «Russophobia» by not removing content that called for the killing of Russian soldiers amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.