A new case has been opened against the head of the Free Buryatia Foundation, who was previously convicted under the law on military “fakes.”

A criminal case has been opened against Alexandra Garmazhapova for “failure to comply with the duties of a ‘foreign agent.’” She herself told Mediazona about this.

Early in the morning of 23 October, security forces came to the flat of her relatives in St Petersburg. Garmazhapova was previously registered at that address. After the search, her relatives were summoned for questioning.

The activist has lived abroad since 2016 and last visited Russia in March 2021.

In November 2022, Garmazhapova was added to the list of “foreign agents.” She has twice been fined under the administrative article for non-compliance with the duties of a “foreign agent.”

She believes that the search was triggered by her participation in negotiations to create a platform for Russian democratic forces in PACE.

• In November 2023, Garmazhapova was sentenced in absentia to seven years in a penal colony in a case concerning military “fakes” (paragraph “d,” part 2, article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) over an interview with Ukrainian journalists. In it, she called the war criminal and spoke about contract soldiers who refused to fight.
• After the war began, a group of activists founded the “Free Buryatia” Foundation. It provided legal support to soldiers who wanted to avoid deployment to the front, and after the mobilisation was announced, helped men leave Russia who were afraid of being drafted. In autumn 2023, it was declared “undesirable.”