Accessibility links

Breaking News

Moscow Court Prolongs House Arrest Of Ukrainian Library Director


Natalya Sharina, the director of Moscow's Ukrainian Literature Library, at a court hearing late last year.
Natalya Sharina, the director of Moscow's Ukrainian Literature Library, at a court hearing late last year.

A court in Moscow has prolonged the house arrest of Natalya Sharina, the director of the Ukrainian Literature Library, who is facing charges of extremism and embezzlement.

The court ruled on August 26 that Sharina's house arrest would be prolonged until October 28.

On August 15, the Moscow prosecutor's office refused to indict Sharina and returned the case to investigators without giving any reasons.

Sharina was detained last October and charged with inciting extremism and ethnic hatred because her library's collection allegedly included books by Ukrainian ultranationalist and author Dmytro Korchynskiy, whose works are banned in Russia.

She was placed under house arrest.

In April, investigators charged Sharina with misallocating library funds, allegedly because she used library funds to pay for her legal defense in another extremism case against her that was dismissed in 2013.

Her lawyer said the authorities had "trumped up" new charges after realizing their initial case against his client was too weak.

Sharina has rejected all the allegations, saying they are politically motivated.

Based on reporting by Interfax and TASS

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.

To find out more, click here.

XS
SM
MD
LG