“Indigenous small-numbered peoples are never proponents of territorial division.” Court upholds detention of two Indigenous rights defenders accused of terrorism

The Moscow City Court has upheld the extension of pre-trial detention for Daria Egereva and Natalya Leongardt, who are accused of participating in a terrorist organization. Both defendants addressed the court during the hearing.

“The ideas attributed to us by the prosecution are not ones we support, and the actions we are accused of we did not commit. As a result, two innocent people have been in detention for four months,” said Leongardt, commenting on her arrest.

Egereva also denies all charges and has requested release from custody.

Daria Egereva and Natalya Leongardt have spent many years working on issues affecting Indigenous and small-numbered peoples. Egereva, an ethnic Selkup, was a public representative of the Center for Support of Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the North, while Leongardt was responsible for educational programs at the same organization. In 2019, the organization was dissolved by decision of the Ministry of Justice.

They are accused of involvement with the Aborigen Forum — a network of experts that Russian authorities consider to be a subdivision of the Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum, which has been designated a terrorist organization in Russia. As emphasized by the women’s support group, Egereva had cooperated with Aborigen Forum before it dissolved itself in 2024 after being labeled a “terrorist organization.”

In December, security forces carried out searches targeting at least 17 activists. Following these raids, Egereva and Leongardt were placed in pre-trial detention. Several others, including St. Petersburg-based journalist Maxim Kuzakhmetov, have been arrested in absentia.

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