Russia: Parnas, the oldest opposition party, liquidated
Russia’s Supreme Court has ordered the liquidation of the oldest liberal opposition party, Parnas, led by Mikhail Kasyanov, who served as prime minister from 2000 to 2004 during Vladimir Putin’s first presidential term. The Court, writes the Interfax agency, accepted a request in this sense from the Ministry of Justice, based on the fact that the party has a very limited number of representations in the country. Parnas (People’s Freedom Party) is the heir of the Republican Party of Russia, founded in 1990, which campaigned for human rights and federalism before being dissolved in 2007. Kasyanov, writes the NGO Mediazona, which deals with the rights of detainees, left Russia after criticizing the military operation in Ukraine. Also among the founders of Parnas was Boris Nemtsov, the former deputy prime minister killed in an ambush near the Kremlin in 2015. The party also included other key opposition figures, such as Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin, who are serving heavy prison sentences.