Police in Moscow have detained Aleksei Fedyarov, the top lawyer at the human rights group Russia Behind Bars, on suspicion of facilitating a bribe.
The Zamoskvorechye district court in the Russian capital told RFE/RL on February 5 that Fedyarov may face house arrest as a pretrial restriction.
No further details were given.
Fedyarov may face house arrest as a pretrial restriction. No further details were given.
The move comes four months after the Justice Ministry declared the founder and head of Russia Behind Bars, Olga Romanova, a "foreign agent."
Russia Behind Bars, which was itself listed as a "foreign agent" in 2018, advocates for protecting the rights of people held in pretrial detention centers, prisons, and penal colonies.
Since the start of Russia's unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the NGO has actively covered the Russian military's recruitment of inmates from prisons and penal colonies to fight in Ukraine.
Russia Behind Bars revealed last year that Russia was sending female inmates to work in occupied regions of eastern Ukraine.
As the NGO's top lawyer, Fedyarov defended Kirill Serebrennikov, who in 2020 was convicted on embezzlement charges that he and his supporters rejected. He was sentenced to three years of probation and a three-year ban on leading any cultural institution with governmental support.
Serebrennikov's supporters said the conviction was revenge for his criticism of authoritarianism and homophobia under President Vladimir Putin.
Serebrennikov left Russia in March 2022 after a court canceled his probation.
Russia has used its so-called "foreign agent" laws since 2012 to label and punish critics of government policies.
It also has been increasingly used to shut down civil society and media groups since the Kremlin launched its full-scale aggression against Ukraine.
The law allows the Justice Ministry to label nonprofit organizations as "foreign agents" if they receive funding from abroad and are engaged in political activities.
The criteria under which such activities are determined are not clearly defined in the law, allowing authorities to label organizations working in the fields of education, culture, health, environmental protection, and human rights as "foreign agents."
Subsequently, it became possible to declare media outlets and individuals as "foreign agents," including those who do not receive foreign funding but are “under foreign influence.” Russian law does not define what should be considered foreign influence.