One year ago, mass protests started in the Russian far eastern city of Khabarovsk – over the arrest of a popular regional governor, Sergey Furgal, on murder charges.
Despite arrests and fines, residents of Khabarovsk protested throughout the summer of 2020. Even when the temperature dropped to -15, people still came out to express their anger at Moscow’s removal of a popular politician. While Russian investigators have claimed they have “undeniable proof” of Furgal’s guilt over two assassinations of local businessmen in the mid-2000s, many believe the case against him is political – or indeed, retribution for his independence and popularity.
Today, Furgal, a member of the right-wing opposition Liberal Democratic Party, is awaiting trial in a Moscow prison, but the protests continue sporadically, making them one of the longest protest cycles in Russia’s recent history.
