The city court of Syktyvkar in Russia arrested in absentia the world chess champion and co-founder of the Free Russia Forum (FRF), Garry Kasparov, together with several other activists, on charges of creating a «terrorist community», of financing « terrorist activities” and of having publicly incited terrorism.
Russian and Ukrainian media reported it. Activist Yevgeniya Chirikova, former executive director of the Russian Solidarity Movement Ivan Tyutrin and former MP Gennady Gudkov were also arrested. A criminal case has been opened in the Komi Republic, according to sources in the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
Kasparov fled Russia in 2013 and currently lives in New York. He co-founded the FRF together with activist Ivan Tyutrin in 2016. The Forum presents itself as an intellectual alternative to the current political regime in Russia. Earlier this year Kasparov was added by Moscow to a list of “terrorists and extremists”.