Today, on September 16, an action against corruption in the
Republic of Mordovia took place by Representation of Mordovia
in Moscow. Activists of the Mordvin and the Moscow branches
of the YABLOKO party and farmers from the Lyambirsky district
of the republic who had suffered from raider related crimes
participated in the action.
Mordovia is tired of corruption!
The key demand of the picketers was resignation of President
of Mordovia Nikolai Merkushkin, who had been leading the region
for 15 years already.
“No only Mordovia failed to leave the ten of economically
most backward regions of Russia, but even increased the gap
with the developed regions for the years Merkushkin had been
President of the republic,” Vladimir Gridin, the leader of
the Mordovian YABLOKO said. However, Mordovia has been topping
the list of the most corruption affected regions, he said.
Gridin said that the key problems included manipulations
with under blocks of flats, corruption in the housing and
utilities sector and the seizure of farming lands by President’s
son Alexander Merkushkin.
The farmers failed to find justice against raiders in the
republic and on the federal level. That is why the farmers
appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, which has
been already examining four complaints and three more complaints
are waiting its turn, Faina Makarova, the leader of the farmers’
initiative group, said.
“The law enforcement and the courts protect the interests
of the head of the republic and the bureacrats, while criminal
cases are filed against the opponents of the authorities,”
Gridin noted. Gridin has been recently convicted allegedly
for beating a well-known sportsman of the republic, a restaurant
owner. Gridin received a suspended sentence, however, another
opponent of the Mordovian authorities Anatoly Sardayev, ex
editor-in-chief of Mordovia Today paper, spent two years in
prison.
Having served half of the sentence he obtained the right
to pardon and was able to come to Moscow to support YABLOKO’s
action.
Sardayev also noted that if action had not obtained a permission
from the authorities and he together with the other participants
was taken to police, then he could have got another term of
imprisonment for such administrative offense.
Also two interior officers and one Federal Security Service
officer were sent to Moscow from Mordovia to apparently to
provide support to Moscow policemen in case the rally turns
into a riot. However, there was no work for them and they
engaged themselves with filming the action on their mobile
phones cameras.
However, employees of the Representation did not come to
meet the picketers despite the insistent demands. After the
rally Faina Makarova handed YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
the report on corruption in Mordovia. Mitrokhin promised to
convey the contents of this document to the country leaders
and assured the participants of the rally that “the YABLOKO
party would continue protecting the citizens of Mordovia from
the corrupt authorities bullying the citizens”.
Merkushkin, go away!
Merkushkin, return lands to farmers!
Mordovia is tired of corruption!
See also:
YABLOKO
Against Corruption
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