Activist Konstantin Kotov, who was placed under house arrest by the court in August in a case related to financing FBK, has left Russia, he reported in an interview with "Mediazona"**. The activist has been in Lithuania for several days.
Kotov said he made the final decision to emigrate after the sentence of cardiac surgeon Ivan Tishchenko, who was sentenced to four years in a colony for donations to FBK amounting to 3,500 rubles.
"I realized that playing some kind of roulette with the court, with the investigation makes absolutely no sense. It's better to take fate into your own hands and secure your own freedom," explained Konstantin Kotov.
Kotov's detention became known on August 21. The next day, the Basmanny District Court placed him under house arrest. The hearing on the preventive measure was held in a closed session.
Konstantin Kotov is charged with six transfers to FBK of 500 rubles each, made from August 2021 to 2022, after the fund was recognized as an "extremist" organization.
In addition to Kotov, volunteer of the "Nemtsov Bridge" Viktor Levakov was detained in August for a similar case due to a transfer of 3.5 thousand rubles to FBK, and he was also placed under house arrest by the court.
Today, another hearing on this criminal case is scheduled to take place in the Savelovsky District Court.
In September 2019, the court sentenced Konstantin Kotov to four years in a colony under the "Dadin" article for repeated violations of the rules of conduct at rallies. He was charged with four participations in peaceful protests and a Facebook post calling for a rally. In January 2020, the Constitutional Court ordered a review of the case, after which the Moscow City Court reduced the sentence to one and a half years in a colony. In December 2020, Kotov was released from the colony.
* Recognized as an "extremist" organization in Russia.
** Recognized as a "foreign agent" in Russia.
Photo: TASS