Novaya Gazeta journalist Khudoberdi Nurmatov faces deportation to Uzbekistan. Source: Ali Feruz's Facebook page.
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This past week has been a difficult one for Russian civil society, with assaults on activists, fake news and a number of new criminal prosecutions.
The authorities are seeking to deport Novaya gazeta journalist Ali Feruz to Uzbekistan where his life is in danger. Feruz was detained on the afternoon of 1 August, the same day a court ruled the journalist should be forcibly deported to Uzbekistan. After the court hearing Feruz attempted to commit suicide. The journalist said he would rather die than return to Uzbekistan. Court bailiffs prevented him from cutting his veins; they also later beat him as he was being transferred to the Temporary Detention Centre for Foreign Citizens in Sakharovo (Novaya Moskva). In Uzbekistan, Feruz was tortured and the security services had sought to make him an informer, after which he left the country in 2009.
Four people were detained in single-person pickets in support of Ali Feruz on Thursday in Moscow. Those detained were charged with administrative offences under Article 20.2, Section 5, of Russia’s Administrative Law Code and released.
This week a number of activists were assaulted. In addition, there was an attempted murder. On 24 July, Vladimir Burmistrov, a member of the “Nation and Freedom Committee” and a candidate in Moscow’s forthcoming municipal elections, almost died when unidentified persons unscrewed the bolts on one of the wheels of his car, as a result of which he was involved in a crash. Previously, Burmistrov had been threatened by officers from the anti-extremism police.
