The civic activist is suspected of ‘inciting hatred or hostility, and also the abasement of human dignity of a group of people in relation to their religion’ (Article 282, Section 1, of the Russian Criminal Code). Maksim Efimov is represented by Olga Rybalova, a lawyer provided on the initiative of the Agora Human Rights Association.

On the night of 11-12 April the apartment of human rights defender Maksim Efimov was searched and his home computer was confiscated. A criminal investigation against Maksim Efimov was opened following the publication on the Internet of an article he wrote entitled ‘Karelia is Tired of Priests’.