Investigators refuse to unfreeze bank accounts of activist Yana Antonova’s mother

According to the investigators’ decision, the bank accounts of Zoya Shipilova, a 70-year-old mother of Krasnodar activist Yana Antonova, were left under arrest, the activist herself reports.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in October 2019, Yana Antonova’s house was searched in a case on money laundering at the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK)*. The seriously ill mother of the activist was questioned, and the pensioner’s bank accounts were arrested. The activist regarded the blocking of her mother’s bank accounts as a form of pressure. According to Yana Antonova, her mother’s arrested bank accounts contain money that she planned to spend it to take care of her disabled son.

The bank accounts of Zoya Shipilova have been blocked for a year already as part of the FBK* case, the human rights project “OVD-Info”** reports. Now she lives only on a small pension.

Yana Antonova emphasizes that her mother is seriously ill and that she faces large expenses for medical treatment, the “Kavkaz.Realii”** reports.

“The Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) considers her to be an employee of a Navalny’s office*. Before the search carried out in our house in 2019, my mother … was not aware of the existence of the FBK* and Navalny’s offices*,” the activist wrote on her Telegram channel.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in 2020, in Krasnodar, a court sentenced activist Yana Antonova to 240 hours of compulsory labour, finding her guilty in a criminal case on her participation in the activities of the Open Russia*** NCO, which was recognized as undesirable in the country. Human rights defenders treat the case against Yana Antonova as political persecution.

*Alexei Navalny is a founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (known as FBK), an NCO that is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the register of NCOs performing functions of a foreign agent. The NCO is also recognized by a court as extremist and banned in Russia. Navalny’s offices are recognized as extremist organizations, and their activities are terminated by a court’s decision. On January 25, the “Rosfinmonitoring” (the Russian Federal Service for Financial Monitoring) added Alexei Navalny to the register of extremists and terrorists.

**Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.

***The activities of two organizations, registered in the UK and containing the words of “Open Russia” in their names, have been recognized by the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian federation as undesirable in the territory of the country.