Our March talk focused on Russia, a mere 17 days after the shocking death of Alexei Navalny. It is a challenge to stay positive in such circumstances, so we were fortunate to have Iona Fletcher, one of two Amnesty UK Country Coordinators for Russia, talking to us. She spoke on the launch day of Amnesty’s 'Protect the Protest' campaign in relation to Russia.

'Protect the Protest' in Russia is a response to the introduction in March 2022, just two weeks after the invasion of Ukraine, of Articles 207.3 and 280.3 into the Russian Criminal Code. Article 207.3 provides for up to 15 years' imprisonment, for criticism ('knowingly disseminating false information') of the Russian Federation. Article 280.3, also provides for imprisonment for discrediting the (use of) Russian armed forces.

Iona indicated that approximately 20,000 Russians had been arrested for protesting against the war. She took us through five cases adopted by Amnesty as part of their campaign:

• Maria Ponomarenko (activist, blogger and journalist)
• Aleksandra ('Sasha') Skochilenko (artist, musician and writer)
• Aleksei Gorinov (Moscow opposition deputy)
• Dmitry Skurikhin (activist and shopkeeper)
• Vladimir Rumyantsev (boiler mechanic)

Iona also talked about the funeral of Alexei Navalny and the Russian culture of reverence for 'wives and mothers' which enabled his mother to gain access to his body. Only 47 out of several thousand attending the funeral in Moscow were arrested although higher numbers of arrests were observed elsewhere.