Siberian Activist Arrested on Terrorism Charges for Documenting Farmer Protests

Authorities in Siberia’s Novosibirsk region have arrested an activist who documented rare local farmer protests this year on charges of calling for terrorism online, her supporters said Thursday. Armed officers raided the home of Larisa Mikhailova, using power tools to cut through the activist’s front door before taking her into custody, her daughter said in a video published by the activist group Agrarian Council. Mikhailova is an activist with the Agrarian Council, which documented cattle culls in the Novosibirsk region mandated by the regional administration. Local farmers accused the authorities of secrecy and failing to adequately compensate them for their slaughtered livestock. Novosibirsk’s Tsentralny District Court later put Mikhailova in pre-trial detention for two months. “I believe this is payback for my mother’s active civic stance,” Mikhailova’s daughter said in the Agrarian Council video. Mikhailova’s hearing took place behind closed doors. Mikhailova’s allies believe the charge stems from online references to “The Internationale,” a 19th-century socialist anthem that served as the Soviet national anthem from 1922 until 1944. Russian authorities have previously used modified versions of the anthem to bring terrorism charges against political dissidents and opposition figures linked to Svetlana Lada-Rus, a prominent anti-government activist and occult healer who remains wanted by Russian authorities. Lada-Rus herself has not been seen in person since 2016, when she fled Russia while facing investigation on charges of large-scale fraud and causing grievous bodily harm through negligence, both of which she denies. Her exact whereabouts remain unknown and she no longer speaks to the press. Last November, a court in Samara sentenced Lada-Rus in absentia to eight years in prison.