Moscow's Basmanny District Court ordered former Communist Party State Duma deputy Oleg Mikhailov held in pretrial detention on October 22. He faces a charge of publicly justifying terrorism under Article 205.2, Part 2, of Russia's Criminal Code, in a case linked to a post about sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky, who was convicted in Russia.
Mikhailov's detention had been reported the previous day. The new court decision means the politician is to remain in a pretrial detention center during the investigation rather than be released under another form of restriction. Communist Party representatives commented on the case and reported the duration of the detention order.
Accounts of the court hearing give conflicting end dates for his detention, December 21 and December 22. Without verifying the court's full written decision, it is more reliable to describe the order as two months in custody and omit the disputed date.
Pretrial detention is not a finding of guilt. The contents of the post underlying the criminal charge and investigators' legal assessment must be distinguished from the arrest and the court's decision. The case concerns the use of terrorism legislation against public expression and is therefore of independent interest in monitoring freedom of speech.