Kiev court re-arrests Russian activist Anastasia Leonova

A district court in Kiev has granted application for the arrest of Anastasia Leonova, a citizen of Russia, until April 9, over suspicion of preparing terror assaults in Kiev, Kharkov, and other towns of Ukraine. The prosecutor explained that the three months Leonova had been kept at remand prison proved insufficient for pretrial investigation.

The activist’s lawyer says the Prosecution presented no proves that Leonova will try to leave the country or influence the witnesses in “the Forester” case.  The lawyer said he is going to dispute the decision on Leonova’s re-arrest. 

As EADaily reported earlier, Anastasia Leonova, an opposition activist from Russia who participated in the protests in the Bolotnaya Square in Moscow, was arrested by Ukraine’s Security Service officers in December 2015 in Kiev along with another two citizens of Russia and three citizens of Ukraine. According to Ukraine’s security service, the detainees were members of a sabotage-reconnaissance group and prepared terror attacks in Kiev. Leader of the group Oleh Muzhchil, codename “Lesnik” (“Forester”) was killed while being detained.  After a while, it turned out that Muzhchil had headed the Right Sector intelligence units DUK (Volunteer Ukrainian Corps) and left it in August 2015.  As for Leonova, she does not deny that she was acquainted with the “Lesnik,” but she denies cooperation with him. The young woman says she helped the Azov battalion and the Right Sector as a volunteer. On the night of 6 March, 2016, Leonova was released from the remand prison, as the term of her arrest expired. In her first interview after leaving the remand prison, Leonova said she is not going to leave Kiev.