Viktor Levakov in court. Photo: Mediazona

A Moscow court has sentenced a man to 3.5 years in prison for donations he made to slain Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), independent news outlet Mediazona reported on Tuesday.

Viktor Levakov was found guilty of “financing extremist activities” for donating a total of 3,500 rubles (€38) to the FBK after Navalny’s team put out a request for donations on its YouTube channel on 5 August 2021, by which time it had already been declared “extremist” by the Russian government.

Levakov, who also volunteered at the makeshift memorial to murdered politician Boris Nemtsov, was detained on 21 August 2024 and placed under house arrest.

Alexey Pershin, Levakov’s lawyer, insisted in court that his client had not knowingly committed a crime, adding that the prosecution had no evidence that the donation had even reached the FBK. Pershin said that his client did not oppose the current government, but did oppose corruption, and that he didn’t know about the FBK’s “extremist” status when he donated the money, Mediazona reported.

“I believe I made a mistake, which I do not intend to repeat,” Levakov told the court, adding that he had often donated money to charity. “Everyone is entitled to make a mistake,” he said.