House Arrest Selected as Measure for Navalny's Brother

In Moscow on Friday, Alexey Navalny's brother, Oleg Navalny, has been placed under house arrest in connection with violations of sanitary and hygienic norms. This information was reported to TASS by the court.

"The court has granted the request of the investigative authorities to impose house arrest on Oleg Navalny until March 23," the court stated.

Previously, a Moscow court had also placed Oleg Stepanov, the coordinator of Navalny's headquarters, under house arrest for the same period. Furthermore, the court is considering similar requests for house arrest concerning female activists Lyubov Sobol and Maria Alyokhina, as well as Anastasia Vasilyeva, the head of the "Doctors' Union."

The day before, police detained Oleg Navalny, Maria Alyokhina, Anastasia Vasilyeva, Oleg Stepanov, and Lyubov Sobol during an unauthorized rally in Moscow for violating sanitary norms.

According to the official representative of the Ministry of the Interior, Irina Volk, participants and organizers of the unauthorized actions on January 23 created a risk of spreading the new coronavirus infection. For instance, among the participants at the event in Moscow's Pushkin Square were individuals who had been ordered to isolate in their places of residence due to having tested positive for the coronavirus.

The operational headquarters for combating coronavirus in Moscow reported that 19 individuals who participated in the actions were infected with COVID-19 and must now remain at home.

Due to unauthorized rallies on January 23 in Russia, investigators have initiated more than 20 criminal cases. Six people have been detained in connection with cases of assault on police officers and Rosgvardia personnel, and criminal cases have been opened against them. All those detained have confessed to their guilt and have already expressed remorse.