Overview

• Olga Komleva was convicted on July 29 in Ufa for participating in a banned extremist organization and spreading false information about Russia’s military, receiving a 12-year prison term.
• Komleva volunteered with Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation before its 2021 designation as extremist and has been held in custody since her March 2024 arrest.
• Her trial was closed to the public, reflecting a pattern of secret hearings used to curtail independent media and opposition voices.
• Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, authorities have expanded extremism and false-information laws to suppress journalists, lawyers and civil society actors.
• Rights groups decry the use of politicized charges and harsh sentences as part of an intensified campaign to silence dissent in Russia.