Mikhail Savva left Russia for fear of further prosecution

Professor Mikhail Savva, sentenced to conditional imprisonment on charges of a fraud, has confirmed his departure from Russia. According to his version, he took the decision after being questioned by the police on the case of the director of the Krasnodar centre "Levados".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 16 the criminal-executive inspectorate addressed the court of Krasnodar with a demand to send Mikhail Savva to colony, because he has violated the regime of serving the conditional imprisonment by hiding abroad.

Mikhail Savva said that the reason for his departure from Russia was the fear to be attracted to criminal prosecution under the new case; and the pretext was his questioning on December 25, 2014, by the police of the Krasnodar Territory as a witness in the case of Elena Shablo, the Director of the "Levados" Centre. Even then, the professor suggested that investigators were preparing to present new charges to him.

The edition named "Yugopolis" reports that, according to unconfirmed reports, Mikhail Savva may be in Ukraine now.

Let us remind you that a number of rights defenders spoke against the prosecution of Mikhail Savva, stating that the professor was detained soon after he criticized the actions of law enforcers who conducted checks of non-profit organizations (NPOs) of Southern Russia.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.