On 5 June Krasnodar regional court extended the pre-trial detention of the university teacher and human rights activist Mikhail Savva until 11 August. As Savva’s supporters reported, the court hearing took place in closed session and in the absence of the defendant’s lawyer. 

"They let everyone into the court building, and people took their places in courtroom No. 7. Everyone was there except for Savva, the judge and the lawyers. There were only three minutes left before the hearing was due to begin…At this moment the door of the courtroom where members of the public and journalists had gathered suddenly turned out to have been locked,” the website dedicated to supporting Mikhail Savva reports.

According to witnesses of the events, Savva was also denied his right to legal representation. Not one of his lawyers was present, and therefore the defence asked that the hearing be postponed. The court refused this request, Kasparov.ru reports.

Savva is charged with embezzling 366,000 roubles in the course of implementing a project entitled ‘Building the World,’ which was funded by federal money distributed by the regional government. In March during an inspection at the Regional Resource Centre where Savva was deputy head, he made a formal complaint to prosecuctors and the Investigative Committee about the behaviour of FSB officers.

On 5 April Savva was removed from his position on the Krasnodar Governor’s Public Council on Civil Society and Human Rights. He was detained on 12 April.