Sochi residents complain about obstacles in laying flowers in memory of Navalny* and Nemtsov

In Sochi, activists, who tried to pay tribute to the memory of deceased opposition politicians Alexei Navalny* and Boris Nemtsov, noted that there were a lot of law enforcers near the monuments where such actions took place, who were also patrolling the city.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on February 20, activist Grigory Uchkurov said that Sochi residents brought flowers to a spontaneous memorial to Alexei Navalny* at the monument to the victims of political repression, but the police regularly cleared the monument of flowers.

On the night of February 28, Sochi activists tried to lay flowers in memory of Alexei Navalny* and Boris Nemtsov, but they failed to do so at the monument to the victims of political repression, where law enforcers and people in civilian clothes were on duty. The police were also on duty at the memorial to the victims of fascism.

According to activist Vladimir, he wanted to pay tribute to the memory of Boris Nemtsov, whom he knew personally, but did not dare lay flowers, as he believed that he would be detained.

Spouses Elena and Pavel also came to the monument to the victims of political repression to light candles and place photos and flowers in memory of Boris Nemtsov and Alexei Navalny*, but when they saw a large number of law enforcers, they decided to abandon their intention. The spouses returned home and staged impromptu memorials for the deceased politicians there.

*On January 25, 2022, the “Rosfinmonitoring” (the Russian Federal Service for Financial Monitoring) included Alexei Navalny into the register of extremists and terrorists. He was a founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (known as FBK), an NCO that is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the register of NCOs performing functions of a foreign agent, recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation. Convicted on probation in a case on fraud. In February 2021, the term was replaced with imprisonment. In a penal colony, Alexei Navalny was charged with fraud and contempt of court and sentenced to 9 years of imprisonment. Furthermore, Alexei Navalny was also sentenced to 19 years of imprisonment in a case on disorganizing the penal colony, extremism, and rehabilitation of Nazism. In April 2023, Alexei Navalny announced that he faced life imprisonment in the case on terrorism. Recognized as a “prisoner of conscience.” The Alexei Navalny’s offices, which previously operated in the Russian regions, are recognized in Russia as extremist organizations and included in the list of prohibited organizations.