Former Open Russia activist detained in Poland on public endangerment charges

Rachel Amran -

Polish authorities detained former Open Russia activist Igor Rogov on charges of preparing an explosion. Rogov will reportedly face three months of pre-trial detention.  

The former activist was initially arrested on July 19 in the Polish city of Katowice, where he was studying on scholarship, local media reported.

If convicted, Rogov could face up to 10 years in prison for public endangerment with the use of an explosive and up to eight years if found guilty of "creating an immediate threat" of public endangerment.

Rogov previously worked as a deputy coordinator of Alexei Navalny's headquarters in Saransk and a coordinator of Open Russia in Mordovia. He was also detained in August 2020 during protests in Belarus.

Polish officials have not yet publicly commented on the case, and further details are not yet available.

Poland arrests 18 over half a year for suspected sabotage plans on behalf of Russia, Belarus
At least one of the suspects was involved in an alleged plot to assassinate Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, while the other ten were involved in planning various forms of sabotage, such as arson, across Poland.
The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Hodunova