Arrest Warrant For Self-Exiled Russian Rights Defender

Vladimir Osechkin (file photo)

A Moscow court has issued an arrest warrant for the self-exiled founder of the Gulagu.net group, which monitors inmates' rights. The warrant was issued on March 21 after the Federal Security Service launched a probe against Vladimir Osechkin on a charge of justifying terrorism. It is not clear what the charge is linked to. Osechkin fled Russia in 2020 after an arrest warrant was issued for him in a separate case on fraud charges, which Osechkin has rejected as politically motivated. In 2022, another probe was launched against him on charges of spreading "false' data about Russian troops involved in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.