Other Russia Organizer Jailed

Rally organizer Ilya Guryev has been sentenced to six months in prison as part of a massive preemptive Kremlin crackdown ahead of the EU-Russia summit in Samara May 17-18.

“The fact a man was put in prison simply for being an organizer with the Other Russia is a serious symptom that shows that the authorities are really out to get us, and it is not the first prison term we will see over the next six months,” Other Russia activist Marina Litvinovich said.

The security forces have also been performing house searches and detentions of other activists in Samara. Computers and documents have been searched and seized on the standard pretext of “extremist activities,” which, as we know, are defined as anything the Kremlin likes with no court papers required. Every printer in the city has been searched for “Dissenters’ March” materials and the police were even going through garbage bins. Several journalists have also been questioned or detained, and at least two are whereabouts unknown at this time.