Governor of Karelia must be dismissed for persecution of political opponents
Statement by the YABLOKO party, 26.03.2015

Olga Zaletskaya, deputy of Pertozavodsk City Council and Alexandra Kornilova, director of the Lentorng trade network, were detained in Petrozavodsk yesterday.

The criminal case involving Zaletskaya and Kornilov has no judicial perspective: Zaletskaya is accused of signing a contract for the sale of a municipal building at an allegedly low price. However, Zaletskaya signed the contract for the sale of the building only after she was obliged to make it by the court.

A huge number of criminal cases against political opponents of Governor Alexander Khudilainen were filed in the Republic of Karelia for the past year: both against YABLOKO members and politicians not related to our party.

It seems that the Governor decided to put all of his opponents to prison.

Possibly it is the only opportunity for the Governor to retain power: YABLOKO won the elections of the city mayor in 2013, even despite unlawful removal of our key candidate Emilia Slabunova.

Karelia has become the only Russia’s region, where the authorities have been using force to such a grand scale for prosecution of the opponents.

We are urging for the following:

– The investigating authorities must immediately release Zaletskaya and Kornilov arrested on absurd charges;

– President of Russia must take actions to stop persecution of the opposition in the Republic of Karelia and dismiss Alexander Khudilainen from the post of the Governor.

Sergei Mitrokhin,

Chairman, YABLOKO