Alexey Gaskarov

Alexey Vladimirovich Gaskarov (also spelled Alexei, Aleksei, or Aleksey; born 18 June 1985) is a Russian social activist and economist who has been a major figure in the democratic, left-wing opposition to the regime of Vladimir Putin. He was a leader of the Russian antifascist movement, and a member of the Coordinating Council of the anti-Putin opposition. He became famous as a prominent critic of the government's destruction of woodland.

In 2010, Gaskarov was a spokesman for a large environmental protest in the Moscow suburb of Khimki. He was put on trial and found not guilty. In May 2012, he was beaten during the Bolotnaya Square protests in Moscow, and was later arrested, tried, and convicted. On August 18, 2014, he was sentenced to three and a half years in a penal colony.

Early life and education He was born on June 18, 1985, in the Moscow suburb of Zhukovsky. He began to be politically active while in school. He began his political activism by participating in and organizing grass-roots efforts to protect the Khimki and Tsagovsky forests from destruction.

Gaskarov was known as the "unofficial mayor" of Zhukovsky, where he sought to encourage fellow citizens to organize and demand their rights. In Zhukovsky, Gaskarov "organized a homeowners association, a soccer club, participated in creating a coffee shop, opened a movie theater, organized screenings and concerts," and engaged in other civic activities. "Gaskarov has invested a great deal of time and energy in seeing that his hometown of Zhukovsky... develops in a way that is responsive to the needs of ordinary citizens," stated one source.

"As a community organizer and activist in his hometown... he was an emerging talent in leftist opposition circles," according to one source. He has "advocated for free and fair elections. Amid a rise in nationalist and neo-Nazi activity in Russia, he was a leader in the anti-fascist movement." Feodor Karpov, the father of Gaskarov's fiancée, stated "He was for justice but was always trying to find a constructive solution."

In 2007 he graduated from the State Government Academy of Finances. Gaskarov was known as one of the "Khimki hostages."

On October 22, 2010, Gaskarov was released from police custody by Khimki Judge Svetlana Galanova in defiance of an appeal by the prosecution to leave him in police custody. Gaskarov expressed surprise at the judge's action, saying that he had little faith in the Russian judicial system. The prosecution presented no new evidence against Gaskarov, aside from an FSB report stating that Gaskarov was a longtime activist of the antifascist movement (apparently in an informal youth association), was an organizer and participant of unauthorized actions (and so detained on March 20, 2010, for it), had foreign contacts, and had taken part in unsanctioned protests. The prosecution accused him of Gaskarov testified "that anti-fascism is not a crime, that his antifascist views cannot be cause to place him under arrest, and that his trips abroad are his own personal affair." Gaskarov said that on March 20 he participated in the march as a correspondent for the NGO Institute "Collective action" and, after his arrest, was acquitted by the magistrate's court. On July 28, Gaskarov also arrived in Khimki as a correspondent for Institute "Collective action", which is confirmed by a letter from the leaders of the NGO itself.

Gaskarov went on to become an active participant in the mass demonstrations against what the protesters saw as the falsification of the December 2011 Russian elections. He spoke at the largest demonstration, on December 24, at which he also organized security, which involved forestalling neo-Nazi provocations. His public activities in December 2011 marked the beginning of his career as a high-profile media presence and commentator.

Bolotnaya Square protest During the Bolotnaya Square protests, which took place in Moscow on May 6, 2012, the day before Vladimir Putin's inauguration as president of Russia, Gaskarov was beaten by riot police using batons and boots. The protests were the first occasion in which Russian police under Putin crushed opposition protests. His arrest came "just a few days before the anniversary of the May 6 demonstration," when "Gaskarov was preparing to lead a left-wing and anti-fascist column at May Day demonstrations." Acting on the assumption that he would be found guilty, Gaskarov and Karpova were married at his Moscow prison in early August.

Karpov said in August 2014 that electoral and judicial corruption had destabilized Russia's political system to the extent that the only solutions were now extreme ones, and as a result Russians may eventually "find that figures like Alexei Gaskarov," a reformer and not a revolutionary, "would be sorely missed."