Article
Russia: Evenk indigenous community leader opposing "Petropavlovsk" gold mining company sentenced to 5 years in prison
"Russia: Evenk community leader opposing UK based gold mining company sentenced to 5 years", 16 October 2015
On September 29, a City court in Blagoveshchensk, the capital of Russia’s Amur region has sentenced Sergey Nikiforov, former head of the village council of Ivanovskoye, Selemdzhinski district, to 5 years in penal colony and a fine of 16 million roubles under charges of bribery. Villagers, most of them indigenous Evenks believe that the charges are fabricated. Nikiforov had been leading the village’s protests against gold mining on Evenk ancestral territories. The British based gold mining company "Petropavlovsk" intends to extract ore from their territories.