Natalya Sharina, Director of the Ukrainian Literature Library in Moscow, has been held under strict house arrest since her arrest on ‘extremism’ charges in late October 2015. It is her unwarranted incarceration and the restrictions imposed on her that have now been challenged with the European Court of Human Rights, since her trial for supposed ‘incitement to enmity’ is still ongoing.

Her lawyer, Ivan Pavlov explains that the authorities have provided no sensible grounds for continuing to extend her house arrest, claiming only that she could try to abscond. This is nonsense since the 59-year-old librarian’s passport has been taken away. The refusal to allow her to leave the flat at all is having a detrimental effect on her health, as is the prohibition on using any form of communication. Pavlov points out that even remand prisoners get a walk outside and the right to correspondence.

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