A second defendant has been identified in the case involving “Aborigen Forum”: rights advocate Natalya Leongardt. She is being prosecuted alongside Daria Egereva, who was arrested last year on charges of extremism and terrorism, according to the defendants’ support team, which spoke to The Insider. The independent Russian outlet Mediazona, citing the same support team, reported that Moscow’s Basmanny District Court detained 58-year-old Leongardt on Dec. 17. Egereva was detained in Moscow the same day, but Leongardt’s arrest only became known today.
Both arrests took place as part of a broad wave of persecution targeting activists advocating for the rights of Indigenous peoples. Leongardt and Egereva are accused of participating in the activities of the “Aborigen Forum” — an informal network of activists and experts representing the Indigenous peoples of Russia’s North, Siberia, and Far East — which the Russian authorities classify as a “terrorist organization” under Article 205.5 of Russia’s Criminal Code, the support team said. The maximum penalty under that charge is 20 years in prison.
On Dec. 18, the court placed both women in custody on charges of participating in the activities of a terrorist organization. Their time in pretrial detention was later extended, and the case remains under investigation.
Natalya Leongardt has spent more than 20 years defending the rights of Indigenous minority peoples of the Russian North, Siberia, and the Far East. Since 2005, she has worked on educational and human rights projects and has taken part in numerous international programs and fellowships. From 2011 to 2013, she worked with the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) and completed fellowships at UN-affiliated organizations in Geneva.
In June 2024, Aborigen Forum was designated “extremist” by the Russian authorities. Then, in November of that year, it was designated a terrorist organization. After the first ruling, the group announced that it was dissolving.
Egereva and Leongardt were not the only members of the group to draw the attention of Russian authorities. St. Petersburg publicist Maksim Kuzakhmetov has been arrested in absentia in connection with the same case. Court documents show that the investigation covers several charges at once, including participation in a terrorist organization, calls for separatism, and spreading false information about the Russian army.
Daria Egereva has been recognized as a political prisoner by Russia’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights organization, Memorial.
