Prigozhin went free. What about these Russians?

By the Editorial Board, The Washington Post, June 28, 2023 at 5:52 p.m. EDT

 

image from article: Yevgeniy Prigozhin near St. Petersburg, Russia, on Aug. 9, 2016. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

For 18 months, Russia has been sliding deeper into totalitarian rule, including draconian laws pushed by President Vladimir Putin that make it criminal to question the war against Ukraine — or even call it a “war,” rather than his preferred euphemism, a “special military operation.”

Last weekend, the mercenary kingpin Yevgeniy Prigozhin did something far more serious than that. He led an armed mutiny against the Russian state. His fighters shot down helicopters and a plane, killing the airmen aboard, steered armor toward Moscow, and Mr. Prigozhin declared that Mr. Putin’s war aims are false.

Those actions would seem to easily fit the crime of “inciting an armed uprising,” which under Russian law is punishable by 12 to 20 years in prison.

So what happened to Mr. Prigozhin? The Federal Security Service announced that no prosecution would be carried out against him. The agency said of the mutiny, “It was established that its participants stopped their actions directly aimed at committing a crime on June 24.” The case was terminated. 

But thousands of Russians who object to the war and oppose Mr. Putin have not had the benefit of such lenience. They protested — on social media, on the streets — only to be charged with crimes and imprisoned. Today, there are 527 suspects and people convicted in antiwar criminal cases in Russia, according to the group OVD-Info, which tracks the cases and supports those accused. Since the invasion was launched, 19,735 people have been detained for speaking out against the war. [jb involuntary emphasis from original text]

Their cases are not being dropped.

On March 15, 2022, Post Opinions contributor Vladimir Kara-Murza addressed the Arizona House of Representatives. He spoke the truth: “the whole world sees what the Putin regime is doing to Ukraine: the cluster bombs on residential areas, the bombings of maternity wards and hospitals and schools, the war crimes” For that, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

His case is not being dropped. 

Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader who has repeatedly challenged Mr. Putin and is serving an 11-year sentence on spurious fraud charges, is being tried anew in prison on additional charges of “extremism” that could bring another 30-year sentence. He said the prosecutor has accused him of “forming an organization to overthrow President Putin by violent means.” In fact, he has been a prominent organizer of peaceful opposition to Mr. Putin.

His case is not being dropped.

Ilya Yashin, another opposition figure, called attention to the war crimes documented by Western journalists and Ukrainian officials in the city of Bucha, near Kyiv. He was charged with “spreading false information” and sentenced to eight years and six months in prison.

His case is not being dropped.

Hundreds of Russians have been hauled off to police stations for minor acts of dissent.

Oleg Shutkov stood on a river embankment in Samara holding a sign: “Hug me if you are against the war.” He was detained by security forces. In the village of Kytmanovo in Altai Krai, Alexei Goryachev was charged with “discrediting the army” because, in a hostel, he shouted, “Glory to Ukraine, glory to Germany, shame to Russia.” A 13-year-old was sent to an orphanage after drawing an antiwar sketch at school that led to the conviction of her father, Aleksei Moskalyov, on charges of discrediting Russia’s armed forces. A street artist from Yekaterinburg, Yegor Ledyakin, was sentenced to six months for writing anti-Putin slogans on the wall of a kiosk. He was found guilty of vandalism motivated by political hatred. When he asked for a lawyer, the security forces hit him in the jaw, he said.

These Russians were not allowed to just drive away like Mr. Prigozhin.

Russia has not been governed by rule of law under Mr. Putin, but it has reached new depths of lawlessness and arbitrary enforcement during the war. In the current system, Mr. Putin’s foes are punished and, on his whim, warlords get off. It should be the other way around: Mr. Putin should be prosecuted for war crimes, and the thousands of innocent people penalized for antiwar views should be set free.