In Russia’s Arctic, Navalny activist’s election bid is broken

MOSCOW, Sept. 1 (Reuters) – Brochures on his scale first appeared accusing him of encouraging children to be gay. His office was then vandalized and his windows fired. And after that she was taken to the hospital to receive COVID-19 treatment which she said she did not need or want.

Violetta Grudina, an opposition activist in the Arctic port city of Murmansk in Russia, says the intimidation began after she said she would run for mayor for the local elections to be held next from a federal parliamentary vote Sept. 17-19.

He says he does not know who placed the leaflets, shot the windows or ordered hospitalization and prosecution, but accuses local authorities of a campaign of dirty tricks.

He was later banned from voting as an ally of jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny, whose movement was banned as an extremist in June.

“It was a campaign of terror, a campaign of intimidation: the public displacement of an opposition candidate so that people do not even think about participating in politics for fear of the repression I have suffered,” he said. Grudina, 31, told Reuters.

The Kremlin declined to comment on Grudina’s allegations. He denies that he is addressing opposition politicians and says people are only taken to court if they break the law. City and local governor offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The ruling United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin, is expected to maintain its dominance in the elections despite falling rates fueled by rising prices and stagnant or falling wages.

Grudina ran a campaign office in Murmansk for Navalny until it became clear this year that it would be outlawed.

Authorities launched Navalny and his supporters as creators of problems with Western support, pushing to destabilize Russia, a charge they reject. Many of them have described bullying, but Grudina’s story points to a multi-faceted campaign.

“DARK TIMES”

Former LGBT activist Grudina says she began opposing Putin when Russia passed a law in 2013 banning “gay propaganda” from minors, a law she said was discriminatory. She says neither she nor anyone else was engaged in spreading “gay propaganda.”

“First they chased me for my guidance, now they chase me for my opinions,” he said.

In April, he announced that he would run on the 28-seat council of Murmansk to approve the budget for the city, the capital of the region where Russia’s northern fleet is located.

Shortly afterwards, defamatory pamphlets appeared in the mailboxes of their neighbors. Then someone closed his office with foam and drew a swastika on him. He was later vandalized again and shot in the windows of his office overnight, with 11 holes visible in the photos he posted on social media.

Grudina says that after recovering from a mild case of COVID-19 and settling a period of mandatory solitary confinement, a court ordered her to be hospitalized, apparently for treatment, during the election registration period.

He said the court rejected a negative test he had received and that he ended up in hospital for almost three weeks.

He tried to remotely register and, when he failed, declared a hunger strike. She was released from the hospital a few days later and was formally charged with violating COVID-19 safety regulations.

Media reports of the ongoing lawsuit show that it is based on when he should have started isolating himself and for how long, rather than evidence that he infected someone. Grudina says she followed the instructions. The hospital declined to comment.

Outside the hospital, Grudina was able to register as a candidate, but was banned by the designation of Navalny’s allies as “extremists,” a ruling that went into effect last month.

She is inspired to continue Navalny, who is serving a 2-1 / 2-year prison sentence for charges he says have been run over after a poisoning for what Western governments say was a military nerve agent.

“Dark times have begun, that’s obvious,” Grudina said. “It’s become much harder to work … (but) if we give up, what was all this for?”

Reports by Tom Balmforth; edited by Andrew Osborn and Philippa Fletcher

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