The former head of Navalny's headquarters in Ufa, Liliya Chanysheva, wrote a petition for pardon, Russia Today claims. The propaganda TV channel posted the supposed text of the petition dated April 19.
Liliya Chanysheva’s lawyer Ramil Gizatullin told 7×7 that although he himself had not seen the document, he “does not doubt its authenticity.” The petition is written in Chanysheva’s handwriting, the defense lawyer added. «Idel.Realities»claim that their unnamed sources confirmed the fact of the activist’s appeal to Vladimir Putin.
According to the text posted by RT, Liliya Chanysheva writes that in April 2021, immediately after the prosecutor’s office filed a lawsuit to recognize Alexei Navalny’s organizations as extremist, she “voluntarily stopped” working at the headquarters and her socio-political activities.
“I have elderly parents. Dad <…> has a number of chronic diseases. Mom <…> has a disability and [also] a number of chronic diseases,” the petition says. — <…> [After I stopped working at FBK] I got married and planned to devote myself to my family and have children. However, since November 2021 I have been in prison. The term of the sentence currently served is three years and six months. <…> I ask you to release me from further serving my sentence.»
“Answer the question: do you live better now than you did 10 years ago?” . The last word of the former head of Navalny's headquarters in Ufa, Liliya Chanysheva
In June 2023, the Kirovsky District Court of Ufa sentenced Liliya Chanysheva to seven and a half years in a general regime colony in the case of the “extremist community”due to involvement in Navalny’s headquarters. In April 2024, the Supreme Court of Bashkortostan increased the oppositionist’s sentence to nine and a half years in a general regime colony. As her husband Almaz Gatin wrote, she is now in pre-IK-28 detention in Berezniki, Perm Territory.
Chanysheva denied the charges during the trial. “Politics is also a profession. Therefore, admitting guilt for me is the same as a teacher admitting guilt that she is a teacher, and a doctor admitting guilt that she is a doctor,” she said in her last word.
According to the law, in order to receive a pardon, a convicted person must write a petition addressed to Vladimir Putin and submit it to the leadership of the colony. It goes to the regional Commission on Pardons, which must send it to the governor with its conclusion. If approved, he hands over the documents to Putin. As a result, a person may have his sentence commuted, released from serving his sentence, or his criminal record completely expunged.
Convicts who write petitions for clemency are often asked to admit guilt, human rights activists noted. Formally, there are no such requirements in the law.