Russia’s Spiral of Repression
The Trial of V. Cherevatenko (Women of the Don)
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
A criminal case against Valentina Cherevatenko, NGO Women of the Don, is ongoing. She faces two years imprisonment because she and the Women of the Don refuse to comply with the perfidious “agent law” and register as “foreign agents”. No matter whether regional offices in Rostov-on-Don or the central bureaucratic apparatus in Moscow is behind this trial, one thing is clear: the “agent law” is being used to tighten the screws of repression further. In Russia, a new stage of escalation has been reached in the intimidation of human rights activists and NGOs. The destruction of free space within society continues.
(Osteuropa 6-7/2016, pp. 143–150)