In the case of the “Army of the People’s Will,” actual prison sentences have now been handed down. In particular, RBC journalist Alexander Sokolov (an excellent investigative reporter) received a 3.5-year prison sentence.
The defense called me as a witness at the trial because I was quite familiar with the defendants’ activities. Their demand was simple: to hold referendums and public opinion surveys in order to understand whether the people were satisfied with the authorities.
Basically, if a referendum showed that people were unhappy, the politicians would be removed from office. If the public was satisfied, they would be rewarded.
In other words, it was an ordinary group supporting direct democracy. There are quite a lot of such groups, and the idea, in its various forms, is becoming increasingly popular.
And yet the Kremlin deemed this activity dangerous and extremist. The group’s members, whose main activity was essentially an email newsletter, were accused of forming a criminal organization and, as you can see, imprisoned.
The sentence was handed down by Judge Krivoruchko, a figure on the Magnitsky List (a sanctions list tied to the Sergei Magnitsky case) and an old acquaintance of mine—he ordered my arrest several times.
Crooks, scoundrels, and criminals have sent decent, honest people to prison for speaking out in support of the people’s direct expression of will.
That’s the kind of country we live in now.