Memorial has recognized Grigory Severin as a political prisoner. At the end of July, the regional prosecutor's office requested two years of penal colony in court for the activist in a criminal case. Severin was accused of calling for terrorism because of comments on social networks. The organization reported this on Telegram.
Human rights advocates from the Support of Political Prisoners. Memorial project are sure that the state is persecuting activist Grigory Severin from Voronezh for political reasons. In February 2021, the police opened a criminal case against him under the article on calls for extremism. The reason was his post on vk.com, in which he commented on the news about the shooting at the FSB's building on Lubyanka Square in Moscow.
According to OVD-Info, the court changed the measure of restraint at least four times. Initially, Severin was imposed a restraining order on, then sent to a detention center, after which the court changed the decision to house imprisonment. In February, the activist was again imposed a restraining order on.
The verdict will be announced on August 18.
In the summer of 2020, Grigory Severin already served out a 12-day administrative arrest for posts on social networks. Then the reason for the punishment was five pictures that he published on his page on vk.com from January 2014 to May 2020. One of them was a photo of a badge from 1939 with the image of a swastika. Three other illustrations also had a swastika, including a cartoon depicting the President of the Russian Federation. Severin calls himself an anti-fascist and oppositionist.