The Shatura City Court of the Moscow Region has stripped Arshak Makichyan, an activist of the climate movement Fridays for Future, from Russian citizenship. He announced this on social networks. The young man has no other citizenship. In addition, Makichyan noted that similar lawsuits for deprivation of citizenship were filed against all the men of his family – two brothers and a father.
“The whole thing was absurd and torture. I am now officially stateless. But this is not the problem … I was silent about it, but the case was against the entire male part of my family. I am terrified. Millions of Armenians lost their rights in 1915 in Turkey (lands occupied by the Ottoman Empire) and you know what happened to them,” the activist wrote on Instagram. “It will take a long time for us to comprehend this new instrument of repression against activists and minorities in Russia as a whole country.
“I don’t have any specific plan for further actions, since the case is unprecedented. I cannot apply for asylum in Germany, where I am now, as my partner is studying in another country, and it is important for me to be mobile. In addition, now I am engaged in activism at the international level, I don’t want to get stuck in one country. I hope for help from European politicians. I think it's important to be able to find solutions for people like me. Perhaps there will be more like me, as this is a new tool of repression,” Makichyan said in a conversation with The Insider.
Makichyan opposed Russia's invasion of Ukraine and left the Russian Federation shortly after the start of the war.
Olga Podoplelova, a lawyer who cooperates with the First Department human rights community (helps Makichyan with protection), said in a conversation with The Insider that this case is an attempt to punish a young man for activism. Makichyan himself said that he had previously received threats to develop just such a scenario, but he did not take them seriously.
In June 2022, commenting on the intention of the Russian authorities to deprive him of his citizenship, Makichyan told Meduza that his family left Armenia in the 1990s because of the war, and he has been living in Russia since he was one year old.
Fridays For Future is an international movement calling on governments and the media to pay attention to climate change.