The ELDR Council convening in Rome on March
12-13, 2010,
Expresses concern in view of:
- ongoing discrimination of its member-party YABLOKO at
Russian elections, especially in the Sverdlovsk and Kaluga
regions;
- discrepancy between President Medvedev’s statements
on liberalization of elections and persecutions against
YABLOKO
States that:
- ELDR will submit the issue to the CE and Europarliament
Calls on the Russian authorities to:
- take urgent remedial measures in ensuring free and fair
elections and maximum public control over voting;
- observe Russia’s obligations on ensuring democratic
standards under its membership in the OSCE and the CE.
Speech by Sergei Mitrokhin at ELDR
Council meeting, Rome, March 12, 2010
In my view, elimination of visa barriers
between Russia and Europe should be examined and solved
by politicians rather than bureaucrats. All we need is political
will towards such strategic decision-making. Long-term advantages
here both for Russia and Europe considerably overweight
bureaucratic problems. And it will also allow us to solve
such issues as, for example, work permits and registration
for foreign citizens working in Russia, which should be
part of the general agreement on elimination of visa barriers.
For the Russian citizens the freedom of
movement within Europe is not reduced only to facilitation
of their business, study or tourist trips (though this is
also very important). This means their normal life within
a single European civilization on the basis of mutually
shared principles and values. This issue has become especially
acute when visa barriers separated us from our close Eastern
European neighbours. However, close interaction with them
has always been very important when we speak about European
trends in Russia.
The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO
is expressing its indignation with the situation when the
United Russia party has been openly and blatantly violating
the law at the Tula City Duma elections. Mass-scale and
virtually open bribing of voters has been taking place in
the city. A vote in favour of the United Russia party costs
from 400 to 500 roubles at pre-term voting. About 10 per
cent of the electorate have already voted at eight polling
stations (No 419, 423, 424, 428 – 432).
The Altair cable television channel has
been broadcasting a reel where those voting for the United
Russia party are guaranteed free subscription to the channel.
Bribing of voters has been at polling station
No 52 was video recorded and confirmed by the witnesses
at the police station.
Such actions by the United Russia party
on the threashold of the election day make us doubt the
results of the overall voting in the city.
Despite Medvedev’s appeal for smaller
parties to participate, running in local elections has become
even harder, said Vladislav Morozov, head of the Yabloko
opposition party's branch in the Kaluga region, located
160 kilometers southwest of Moscow.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court banned the
party from running for seats in the regional legislature,
citing problems with signatures the party collected to be
registered for the vote. Yabloko leader Sergei Mitrokhin
said the violations were minor, Noviye Izvestia reported
Wednesday.
Morozov is currently one of three Yabloko
deputies in the regional legislature, which like most in
Russia is dominated by United Russia.
Morozov complained that Kaluga Governor
Anatoly Artamonov, a member of United Russia is actively
campaigning for United Russia candidates and almost daily
appears on local television to endorse party candidates.
“That reminds me of the times of Brezhnev,”
he said, referring to Soviet elections when the Communists
had a one-party monopoly.
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
is going to get support to YABLOKO’s initiative on
introduction of a visa-free regime between Russia and the
EU from European liberals during the annual meeting of ELDR
Council which will take place in Rome on March 12-13.
On the threashold of the meeting Russian
Vedomosti newspaper published an article by Finnish Foreign
Minister Mr.Alexander Stubb where he stated the adherence
of Finland to the agreement between the RF and the EU on
facilitation of the visa regime which came into force in
summer 2007, as well as called the Russian authorities “to
concretize and accelerate” the work in this direction.
“Finland would welcome a visa-free regime between
the EU and Russia and will spare no effort for hitting this
goal,” Mr. Stubb stated. “I hope that Russian
leaders will have enough insistence and political will so
that to facilitate the necessary reforms,” he wrote.
Sergei Mitrokhin discussed the problem of
introduction of the visa-free regime at the meeting with
Ambassador of the Republic of Finland to the Russian Federation
Matti Anttonen on February 17.
The Supreme Court did not let YABLOKO to
participate in the election campaign to the regional parliament
in the Sverdlovsk Region. YABLOKO’s complaint on the
decision of the Sverdlovsk Region Court (which ruled out
the refusal of the regional election commission to register
YABLOKO is the race was lawful) was not satisfied.
Thus, YABLOKO was not allowed to participate
in the regional elections. On March 9 the Supreme Court
also adopted the same decision on the complaint of the Kaluga
branch of YABLOKO.
Officials from Administration of the Lomonosovsky
District of the Leningrad region offered their apology to
Alexander Senotrusov, deputy head of YABLOKO’s Green
faction, for their intention to dismiss him from school
where he had been working as a teacher and their suspension
of functioning of a children’s club where he also
worked. Persecutions against YABLOKO’s activist began
after his interview to the NTV television channel.
On March 7, NTV released a piece devoted
to the practices of unlawful construction of cottages in
the natural reserves. Alexander Senotrusov told the journalists
about unlawful construction at the Lebyazhiye village situated
on Gulf of Finland shore.
After this the district administration began
persecutions against the teacher. Local bureaucrats were
going to dismiss Alexander Senotrusov as redundant and also
cut off electricity in the children’s club where he
worked.
ELDR Newsletter. March 4, 2010
If on one hand Yabloko, Russia, is still struggling against
the Russian authorities because of its last non-registration
in the regional election race in two key regions (please
click here for more details), on the other Radicali Italiani,
scored a good goal on the path of the rule of Law and protection
of civil rights.
The Italian party, after a careful investigation, reported
the numerous irregularities over the list of the centre-
right candidates in Rome and Milan- two crucial strongholds
of Berlusconi’s party - and seeing them finally erased
from the competition.
Today, on March 11, YABLOKO’s leader
Sergei Mitrokhin will meet with electorate in Tula.
Elections to the Tula City Duma will take
place on Sunday, March 14. YABLOKO’s list is topped
by the present deputy of the city parliament Sergei Filatov.
At this election 57 members of YABLOKO will compete for
48 mandates.
The key topics for Sergei Mitrokhin’s
meeting with the voters will be transparency of the tariffs
and fight with corruption in the housing and utilities sector,
as restoration of lawfulness in the sector has become the
key slogan of YABLOKO’s campaign in Tula.
The Tula branch of YABLOKO recorded a mass-scale
buying of votes in favour of the United Russia and the Just
Russia party observed at pre-term elections to the Tula
parliament. A vote cast for United Russia cost 500 roubles
and a vote for the Just Russia party cost 100 roubles.
Today, on March 10 at about 11 a.m., YABLOKO’s
election headquarters received a telephone call about a
bribe of electorate at polling stations No 369 and 370 located
in school No 52. Several cars were parked in the yard of
one of the houses near the school. Unknown persons from
the cars first put down the data of the voters and after
their voting gave money to them.
Sergei Filatov, one of the leaders of YABLOKO’s
election list and deputy of the Tula parliament, arrived
to the polling station and discovered queues by the school
building. He recorded all he saw (see the recording),
interviewed the voter and also called the police.
START-1 does not affect the viability of
Russia's ground-mobile missiles. Authoritative representatives
of the RVSN (the former and new commanders, the former and
new chiefs of the MoD 4th Central Research Institute, and
others), and there are no grounds for trusting them less
than to Colonel Belov, Generals Ivashov and Chervov, or
Marshal Yazov, who are not even missilemen. The peacetime
deployment area (125,000 square km) defined for each regiment
is more than sufficient, and the missiles' concealment relies
not on the acreage of the area but on the ramified structure
of the roads and the strength of the bridges. In the pre-war
period the operational deployment of missiles was in no
way limited in terms of acreage. The key thing for the viability
of our mobile launchers is camouflage in the field positions,
where the Americans have never monitored anything and about
which they know nothing. START-1 had nothing to do with
this.
The Supreme Court of the RF refused to annul
the decision of the regional electoral commission not to
register YABLOKO at elections to the parliament of the Kaluga
region. YABLOKO is going to appeal to the Constitutional
Court of the RF with a claim to abrogate the norms requiring
a number of parties to collect signatures so that to get
registration at election campaigns.
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
participated in the hearings in the Supreme Court and said
that the “decision of the Supreme Court was arbitrary”.
The Supreme Court did not consider YABLOKO’s arguments,
Mitrokhin added.
Statement by the International and
Moscow Memorial Societies. Press Release. March 3, 2010
Officials from the Moscow Mayor’s
Office have stated that portraits of Stalin are to be put
up in the city for the 65th Anniversary of Victory Day.
As is usual, it is not known by whom and at what level this
decision was taken, but it is clear that the portraits will
be produced at the expense of the taxpayers, who include
those who lost their relatives through the fault of the
dictator. But it is not a question of money, and nor is
it that some of those invited to the celebrations will probably
not wish to come to a city, decorated in such a dubious
manner. The appearance of portraits of Stalin on Victory
Day is an insult to the memory of the fallen...
If portraits of Stalin do indeed appear
on the streets of Moscow, we shall do all within our power
to ensure that, simultaneously, they will be accompanied
by other placards, stands, and posters which tell of the
tyrant’s crimes and of his true place in the history
of the Great War for the Fatherland. We are convinced that
hundreds of Muscovites – the children and grandchildren
of the front-line soldiers, of those to whom Victory really
belongs – will help us in this.
Liberals
victorious in Dutch elections
The Dutch city council elections on Wednesday saw important
liberal victories for LI Full Members VVD and D66. The Dutch
liberal parties were seen as the victors of the elections,
with the VVD being the second biggest party gaining 14.9%
of the electoral vote (13.8% in 2006) and D66 increasing
its share to 8.1% (2.8% in 2006). D66 also saw a near five-fold
increase of their number of council seats from 141 to 525,
while VVD increased its number from 1166 to 1385. The populist
Freedom Party of Geert Wilders only ran in two cities, and
got big popular support. The Freedom Party became the biggest
party in the city of Almere, and was voted the second biggest
party in The Hague. Liberal International President and
VVD leader in the European Parliament Hans van Baalen was
satisfied with the good liberal results: “VVD is back,
and will play a vital role in the councils and nationally
after the upcoming general elections on June 9th. I commend
D66 with their excellent result, which creates a strong
liberal position in the Netherlands. I recognize that Wilders
had success in Almere and The Hague. There should not be
a cordon sanitaire. The best way to fight populists is to
force them to take responsibility in office. We can defeat
them if we are prepared to fight them instead of trying
to ignore or stigmatize them”.
On March 3 during the second meeting of
the Coordination Council leaders of political parties and
public organisations and movements functioning in the Kaliningrad
region signed a joint document on creation of a coalition
targeted at stopping the monopoly of the progovernmental
United Russia party in the Kaliningrad region.
A press-conference of the new coalition
will take place in the Regional Duma on March 5 at 1 p.m.
The participants will present the text of the agreement
opened for all the parties and organisations sharing this
platform and will also answer the journalists’ questions.
On March 3 member of YABLOKO’s Political
Committee made a visit to the Astrakhan Region within the
framework of election campaign to the Astrakhan City Duma.
Grigory Yavlinsky had a meeting with Governor
Alexander Zhilkin. The Governor spoke in detail about implementation
of the long-term strategy of socio-economic development
of the region. “The executive authority of the region has
been working in close contact with the Public Chamber of
the region, trade unions, deputies and representatives of
political parties,” Zhilkin noted. The Governor also showed
his interest in further cooperation with YABLOKO.
The Governor also highly assessed the work of the representatives
of YABLOKO in the Administration of the region.
Congratulations from Sergei Mitrokhin.
March 2, 2010
Dear Sergei Adamovich,
On behalf of all YABLOKO members I am sending
you our heartiest congratulations on your birthday.
Your life deserves not only admiration,
but careful study. The hard moral choice you’ve always
been making confirms one thing: following the way of truth
and one’s own convictions can lead to any consequences
– either to establishment or break of human relations,
– however, in the end it always proves that such a
choice must be made against all the odds. You have never
recoiled from your truth. We are proud that we are working
together with you and that we can adopt from you the best
qualities of Russian human rights defenders.
We are wishing you health, strength and
patience!
Sincerely,
Sergei Mitrokhin,
Chair of the YABLOKO party
Today, on March 3, YABLOKO conducted a protest
action against withdrawal of YABLOKO’s lists of candidates
from election race in the Kaluga and Sverdlovsk regions
by the Central Electoral Commission office. A large balloon
filled with helium took large scissors up to the window
of the cabinet of Vladimir Churov, head of the Central Electoral
Commission.
“Do I have to swear by my beard that
I shall do all I can so that elections [in Russia] be honest?
I swear!” said Vladimir Churov, Chair of the Central
Electoral Commission during broadcasting at the REN TV channel
on March 15, 2007. Activists of the Youth YABLOKO’s
reminded Vladimir Churov of his oath. They also held a slogan
by the Central Electoral Commission office “Stop withdrawing
us from elections!” and demanded that Vladimir Churov
should come down from the office to them and answer the
questions. “We have not witnessed such a situation
before when our party could be withdrawn from elections
in two regions simultaneously,” YABLOKO leader Sergei
Mitrokhin who also participated in the action told to the
journalists. “We have been patient for a long time
as we remembered Churov’s promise to guarantee honest
elections, however, now our patience is gone,” he
added.
Conference “Women’s Movement
in Russia: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” took place
in YABLOKO’s Moscow office on February 26. 75 heads
of leading women’s organisations and experts from
Moscow, St.Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Ekaterinburg and Perm
participated in the conference. The conference was broadcasted
life via YABLOKO’s web-site.
Galina Mikhalyova, moderator of the conference,
Chair of the Gender faction of the YABLOKO party and Co-Chair
of the Council for Consolidation of Women’s Movement
in Russia stressed the difficulties in the development of
women’s movement in the situation of increasing discrimination
of women in Russia in all spheres of life and the need to
consolidate efforts of public organisations, expert community,
journalists and political forces for realization of the
gender equality principles. YABLOKO’s leader Sergei
Mitrokhin noted that YABLOKO is the only Russian party fighting
for gender equality and proclaiming equality of rights and
opportunities for men and women.
The Sverdlovsk Region branch of YABLOKO
filed an appeal in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation
with a demand to abrogate the decision of the Electoral
Commission of the Sverdlovsk Region which did not allow
YABLOKO to run in the election campaign to the Legislative
Assembly of the Sverdlovsk Region.
YABLOKO had already filed a complaint to
the Sverdlovsk Region Court with a plea to annul the decision
of the electoral commission denying YABLOKO a registration
in the race. The working group of the electoral commission
had announced that 56% of the signatures collected in favour
of YABLOKO and required for registration in the elections
be void. The regional court had not left the decision of
the electoral commission without change.
Statement by the Bureau of the YABLOKO
party. February 27, 2010
Right after President Medvedev’s statement
made at the State Council meeting on the need to
facilitate political competition and democratization of
the political system YABLOKO was cynically and unlawfully
withdrawn from elections to the legislative assemblies of
the Kaluga and Sverdlovsk regions, the regions where YABLOKO
enjoyed considerable support from the electorate.
The signatures collected in support of YABLOKO’s
election lists were announced “invalid” on
factitious unlawful grounds. The Chair of the electoral
commission of the Sverdlovsk region publicly announced that
signatures in support of YABLOKO would be recognised invalid
already when YABLOKO had only been collecting these signatures.
The electoral commission of the Kaluga region made all it
could so that not to allow the leaders of the regional YABLOKO
branch to participate in the audit of the signatures.
YABLOKO’s lodging complaints of such
refusals in courts did not lead anywhere – the courts,
as well as electoral commissions, refused to examine the
evidence submitted by YABLOKO’s activists...
President Dmitry Medvedev's police reforms
will turn into a sham if the public is excluded from the
process and other law enforcement agencies are left untouched,
opposition politicians and human rights activists said Thursday.
“It is impossible to reform the Interior
Ministry without reforming the prosecutor's office and the
justice system,” Yabloko party leader Sergei Mitrokhin
said at a round table organized by the Moscow police to
discuss the reforms with the public...
The YABLOKO party expresses its resolute
protest against the plans of the Moscow government to restore
the [Soviet] system of preservice military training with
regular encampments of schoolchildren and introduction of
the fundamentals of the military service as a subject in
the school curriculum.
We think that the Concept of Preservice
Training of the Young People in Moscow Until 2020 endangers
life and health of the young Muscovites and is targeted
at conservation of the present problems rather than reconstruction
of the army, which inevitably leads to further degradation
of the armed forces.
The present system of conscription to the
Armed Forces of Russia serves only for justification of
the existence of the Russian military bureaucracy and their
deriving profits from gratuitous soldiers’ labour.
Mass-scale violations of the rights of the young people
of the conscription age and harassment – derision,
beatings and blackmail – have become a daily reality
in the army.
Picketing for the right of the military
pensioners to decent pensions took place in the centre of
Ufa (Bashkiria) on February 27.
The picket was organised by the Bashkirian
regional branch of the YABLOKO party. The picket was conducted
under the slogan “Decent Pensions to the Military Pensioners!”
In spite of the fact that 30 activists had
to participate in the action, the actual number of participants
grew to 50. Citizens dissatisfied with the actions of Bashkirian
government, administration of Ufa and the law enforcement
also joined the picket...
Picket against discrimination of military
pensioners took place in Blagoveschensk (the Amur Region)
on February 23 (Defender of the Fatherland Day).
The action was organised by the Amur Region
branch of YABLOKO. The city government gave a permission
to conduct the action in the center of the city...
Despite preliminary announcements of the
action none of the local journalists risked to go against
Governor’s order and report on the action in the media...
Sverdlovsk Region Court left without changed
the decision of the Electoral Commission not to register
YABLOKO in the election campaign to the Sverdlovsk Region
parliament. The decision was adopted yesterday night.
The working group of the electoral commission
basing on the graphological expertise recognised 56% of
the signatures collected by YABLOKO in support of its election
list invalid.
The court heard only one expert who explained
that “he and his colleagues based on their experience
and qualification”. However, he failed to give a detailed
answer to a single question, repeating that “such
was the result of the expertise”.
On 23 February the leader of LI Full Member
YABLOKO, Sergei Mitrokhin, and several other activists were
arrested in Moscow outside the Ministry of Justice after
staging a demonstration to call for the protection of military
pensioners' rights. The participants of the picket held
slogans “Scanty Military Pensions — a Disgrace
to the State!” when about 15 OMON policemen arrested
YABLOKO's activists and drove them to the local police station.
The demonstration had not been coordinated with Moscow officials,
as local authorities had declined YABLOKO the right to demonstrate
on that date (the Day of Defenders of the Fatherland). Among
the detainees was Anton Goretsky, General Major of the reserve.
Commenting on the events Mitrokhin said “It is absurd
that General Major of the reserve was arrested on the Day
of Defenders of the Fatherland” . According to Mitrokhin,
the local authorities were acting in the interests of the
Ministry of Defence which did not want to see accusations
in cynical attitude to the military on their holiday.
Round table “The Reform of the Interior
Must Meet the Expectations of the Civil Society” initiated
by Deputy Chair of the Moscow YABLOKO Andrei Babushkin took
place in the press centre of the Moscow Interior department
on February 25.
Representatives of human rights organisations
including such renowned figures as Ludmila Alexeyeva and
Valery Borschyov participated in the round table. YABLOKO’s
leader Sergei Mitrokhin also participated in the discussion.
“The interior needs not simply to make staff reduction,
but anti-corruption cleaning,” Mitrokhin said.
The Court of the Kaluga Region turned down
YABLOKO’s claim regarding registration of the party
in the election campaign to the regional parliament.
The experts of the regional electoral commission
announced 600 signatures out of total 8,452 collected in
support of YABLOKO’s list invalid (at permissible
number of defective signatures amounting to 400). YABLOKO
managed to prove in court that the signatures were valid
only in 77 cases, however, to get registered the party had
to obtain such a decision on 201 signatures.
YABLOKO’s activist and deputy of the
Kaluga regional parliament Sergei Fadeyev who participated
in the trial on behalf of YABLOKO, said that the electoral
commission “had lied and mixed everything up wherever
possible”. YABLOKO’s activists gave their reasoning
for annulment of the decision not to register YABLOKO’s
list, however, the court did not consider them “worthy
of consideration”.
A rally in protection of the Utrish national
reserve park and the Baikal Lake took place in the centre
of Krasnodar on February 20. The rally was organised by
YABLOKO’s activist Andrei Rudomakha.
After the rally the participants marched
along the main street of the city and held a second rally
at the end of the march.
A series of mass manifestations against
the party of power took place in Saratov 20 years ago, in
February 1990.
On February 11 the first meetings of the
citizens took place and public organisation The Committee
of February 11 was organised. On February 24 thousands of
people marched through the streets of the city, broke the
police cordons and gathered on a rally at the Revolution
Square (the Theatre Square at present) under the slogans
“Out with Dogmatists, Bureaucrats and Conservatives!”,
“The CPSU Brakes Perestroika!”, “For the
Soviets without Communists!” and “The USSR Is
Prison of Nations”. The citizens demanded social justice
and free elections into representatives bodies of power
– the Soviets of People’s Deputies – so
that to break away with the political monopoly of the ruling
party (the communist party then) and negligence of the bureaucrats
leading the country to the collapse.
At the latest event in the series of "Liberal
breakfasts" hosted at the ELDR headquarters, Dr. Michael
Wohlgemuth from the Walter Eucken Institute for economics
discussed the concepts of a free or social market economy
– which model for Europe.
Introduced by German liberal MEP Michael
Theurer, he took the audience back to the liberal origins
of what is commonly known today as the “social market
economy”. He reminded the audience that the creators
of what is called “Ordnungspolitik” (Constitutio
in Libertate) defined the following cornerstones as the
essential elements of a sound economic policy: private property,
freedom of contract, liability, open markets, a stable currency
and last but not least a predictable and stable economic
policy.
Round table “The Reform of the Interior
Must Meet the Expectations of the Civil Society” will
be conducted on the initiative of Andrei Babushkin, Deputy
Chair of the Moscow YABLOKO and Co-Chair of the Human Rights
faction of the party in the press centre of the Moscow Interior
Department, on Thursday, February 25.
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
will participate in the round table. Other guest speakers
are:
Ludmila Alexeyeva, the Moscow Helsinki Group,
Valery Gribakin, head of the Information and Public Relations
Department of the Interior Ministry of the RF,
Alexander Zharov, Ombudsman for the Moscow Region,
Alexander Zimin, leading expert of the Moscow University
of the Interior Ministry,
Svetlana Gannushkina, Grazhdanskoye Sodeistviye (Civil Support)
Vladimir Lukin, Russia’s ombudsman,
Alexander Muzikantsky, Moscow ombudsman,
Ella Pamfilova, Civil Society and Human Rights Council under
the President of the RF,
Lev Ponomaryov, For the Human Rights movement,
Genry Reznik, Moscow Bar Association...
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
welcomes today’s statement by the Minister of Foreign
Affairs of the Russian Federation on introduction of a visa-free
regime between Russia and EU.
“We hope that consultations conducted
by experts will reach a solution in the nearest perspective
and we shall be able to speak about definite time [for implementation
of the visa-free regime] then. Russia is ready to transfer
to a visa-free regime with Russia already tomorrow,”
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, told the
journalists after his negotiations with Catherine Ashton,
the High Representative of the European Union.
Rallies and pickets took place in different
Russia’s cities within the framework of YABLOKO’s
campaign “Decent Pensions to the Military” on
February 23, the Defender of the Fatherland Day.
About thousand people came to the rally
in Lipetsk demanding to raise scanty military pensions.
Military pensioners, YABLOKO’s activists and CPRF
activists held slogans “Putin to Dismissal!”,
“Military Pension – a Disgrace of the Government!”...
Four pickets were organised in Novgorod:
YABLOKO’s activists distributed leaflets and collected
signatures under the address to the Russian President. The
residents of the city even queued at one of the pickets
located in the centre of the city so that to put their signatures
under an address to Dmitry Medvedev demanding to change
the system of calculation of military pensions...
The arrested activists – YABLOKO’s
leader Sergei Mitrokhin, General Major Anton Goretsky and
Artur Grokhovsky, aid of YABLOKO’s leader, spent over
an hour in the district court waiting for hearings on their
case. After an hour expired they went to the courtroom to
find out when the hearings were to take place. However,
they saw a judge discussing something with the OMON policemen
who were witnesses on the case. According to Grokhovsky,
several policemen were standing by the judge’s table
and one of them was even sitting on the table. However,
the judge demanded to close the door and not to interfere
into the discussion.
YABLOKO’s activists left the court in protest against
collusion of the judge and the police, despite resistance
of the policemen who brought them to the court. “I
think that what has happened is a manifestation of an arbitrary
rule and also a humiliation to General Goretsky who on the
Day of the Defender of the Fatherland was kept in the police
station for three hours and then kept in court,” Mitrokhin
said. “The judge not only behaved incorrectly towards
us, but even tried to make a collusion with the witnesses
who were actually a party in the case,” he noted.
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
and leader of the Moscow Region YABLOKO General Major Anton
Goretsky were arrested for conducting a picket in protection
of the military pensioners’ rights that had not been
coordinated with the authorities. The local authorities
declined YABLOKO’s application to conduct picketing
by the Ministry of Defence on February 23 (the Day of Defenders
of the Fatherland). However, the same action had been allowed
on January 20.
The participants of the picket held slogans “Scanty
Military Pensions – a Disgrace to the State!”
when about 15 OMON policemen arrested YABLOKO’s activists
and drove them to the local police station.
Today, on February 20, All-Russia congress
of the Elder Generation public association formed on the
basis of the former Pensioners’ Party took place in
YABLOKO’s office in Moscow. The congress adopted a
decision of a merger with YABLOKO via creation of the Russia’s
Pensioners faction in YABLOKO.
Delegates from 24 Russia’s regions
participated in the congress: 22 delegates voted for the
merger and 2 abstained. The Elder Generation has branches
in 32 Russia’s regions.
The leader of the Elder Generation Alexei
Borschenko called YABLOKO “the only party which can
at present protect the interests of Russia’s pensioners”.
He also reiterated that pensioners constitute about one
third of Russia’s population.
Litigation initiated by the YABLOKO party
disputing the refusal of the regional electoral commission
to register YABLOKO’s list in the election race to the regional
parliament began in the Sverdlovsk Region Court on February
18...
The leader of Sverdolovsk YABLOKO Maxim
Petlin said “We have just begun our analysis of the lists
of signatures rejected by the commission, as the commission
have refused to give them to us until this moment, we shall
work throughout all the four days-off [February 20-23] and
I am sure that by [the next hearings] February 24 we shall
have a lot of arguments supporting our position.”
Statement of the Chairman of the
YABLOKO party. February 18, 2010
Placards picturing Joseph Stalin that have
recently appeared in Moscow represent an insult to the memory
of our fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers who
won a victory over fascism. This is another manifestation
of hatred towards Russian people and all other nations of
Russia and the former USSR that suffered from the genocide
launched by Stalin.
Many years have passed since the end of
the Second World War, and multiple documents and facts showing
that the Victory was won despite of rather than owing to
Joseph Stalin and his system have been disclosed...
The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO
proposes to place in Moscow streets and squares placards
reproducing war-time photographs and showing the heroism
of the true victors of the war.
Simonovsky District Court, Moscow, refused
to satisfy YABLOKO’s suit on cancellation of the results
of the voting at two Moscow electoral districts, where progovernmental
United Russia obtained 231 additional votes via fraud.
The judge chose to conduct hearings in the
absence of YABLOKO’s representative. She also prohibited
journalist from the Kommersant-Vlast paper to take notes
during the process.
YABLOKO’s arguments based on a considerable
discrepancy between the protocols given to the observers
on the election day October 11, 2009, and the official results
of the voting. Thus 96 votes were taken LDPR, Just Russia
and Patriots of Russia and added to the United Russia party.
The chair of this electoral commission explained this by
an error. “Provisional” protocols where figures represented
a mere “guess work” were allegedly given to the observers,
however, later the mistake was detected and amended. However,
the chair of the commission failed to explain how this “guess
work” managed to virtually coincide with the real results
of the voting, especially in case of YABLOKO and CPRF.
As NATO and its allies have stepped up their
military effort in Afghanistan LI Full Member the Liberal
Democrats have said that “there must be a political
surge alongside the planned military surge to bring over
moderate Taliban”. Thousands of US, British and Afghan
soldiers are involved in the push to clear Taliban forces
in Helmand province. Some success has been attained, as
it was reported that a high ranking Taliban military commander
was captured and intelligence suggested the Taliban were
running out of ammunition and were calling in back-up to
the region. However difficulties lay ahead as restoring
trust for the troops and remaining in control of the cleared
areas will be challenging. Liberal International Vice President
on the Bureau Robert W. Browne said the LibDems are “critical
friends” of the mission in Afghanistan: “We
support the mission in Afghanistan but we will continue
to demand that the strategy pushes for a more legitimate
government, tackles corruption and involves other major
players in the region.”
At a meeting of the European Liberal Democrats
parliamentary group in Brussels on 3rd February, Sergey
Mitrokhin, Leader of ELDR member party, YABLOKO, calledfor
a strong collaboration amongst liberals in view of the introduction
of a visa-free regime between Russia and the European Union.
Mitrokhin called on the European Union to
“work out a strategy for interaction with Russia based
on integration rather than confrontation”. Such integration
is needed both for the EU and Russia in the field of the
economy (which should not be reduced to oil and gas issues
only), politics and national security (e.g., creation of
a joint ABM), as well as a broad spectrum of other aspects,
such as integration of Russia’s rich intellectual
and labour potential into the European economy. “The
European Union should initiate projects that would engage
Russian society and elite into the European values and approaches”.
According to Mitrokhin, such a strategy can ensure Russia’s
steady movement towards the European way of development.
Elimination of visa barriers and free communication between
the citizens of the EU and Russia will enable Russian citizens
to experience the achievements of Western democracies and
observe how democratic institutions should really function
and apply this in their own country... READ
MORE
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
asked Alexander Bastyrkin, Chair of the Investigative Committee
at the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation,
to take under his personal control investigation of a killing
of civilians on the Chechen-Ingush border during special
operation on February 11 – 12, 2010.
“The investigation conducted on February
13 – 14 by the Memorial human rights centre showed
that the versions worded by the officials – that civilians
had been used by the militants as a human shield and died
because of the air-to-ground attack – were incorrect,”
ran the letter...
At least 70 local civilians engaged in agricultural
works turned out to be in the area of a special operation.
The authorities had the information about their work in
the area, as they had given a special permit for agricultural
works to the local residents there, however, the officials
did not take measures so that to evacuate people to a safe
place. At least four persons were killed. According to the
Memorial’s data they were gunned at a short range
and possibly fired “insurance” shots afterwards.
On February 17 (about 7 a.m.) Olga Galkina,
deputy of the municipal council of the Morskoi district
from the YABLOKO party found out leaflets on the block of
flats where she lived running that police was allegedly
looking for a “dangerous criminal Maxim Lvovich Reznik
accused of grave crimes”... The leaflets also called
the citizens to call the telephone numbers indicated in
the text so that to help the police to arrest a “dangerous
criminal”. The given telephone numbers turned out
to be the numbers of the local police department, St.Petersburg’s
YABLOKO office and the school where Maxim works as a teacher
of history...
“It is obvious that this mean action
has been paid for and is aiming at exerting psychological
pressure on myself and my relatives. It is especially mean
that these people indicated telephone number of the school
where I work,” Reznik said. “After today’s
provocation I can not say that the December and January
incidents [when Reznik was arrested by police when he was
going home from a supermarket for alleged “drinking
alcohol in a public place” and attack on their family
car] were a mere coincidence.”
Tomorrow, February 18, Simonovsky District
Court, Moscow, will adopt decision on YABLOKO’s suit
regarding cancellation of the results of the voting at electoral
districts No 1696 and 1701 on October 11 election. These
districts added 231 votes to progovernmental United Russia
party via fraud... The hearings will begin at 2 p.m. Address:
Vostochnaya ul. 2, stoyeniye 6. Judge Titarova.
On Friday, February 19, Preobrazhensky District
Court, Moscow, will make a ruling concerning the results
of the voting at polling station No 1062. According to the
copies of protocols given to YABLOKO’s observers,
the official total of the votes cast at the polling station
considerably increased the total of the votes cast for each
of the parties in accordance with the protocols given to
the observers. The hearings will begin at 10-30 a.m. Address:
2nd Bukhvostova ul. 4. Judge Yegorov.
YABLOKO’s litigation on the cancellation
of the resolution of the Regional Electoral Commission turning
down the registration of a of YABLOKO and Joint Democrat’s
list in the election race to the regional parliament will
continue on February 17.
The Sverdlovsk region branch of YABLOKO
applied to the regional court demanding annul the decision
of the electoral commission not to register YABLOKO in election
race to the regional parliament.
YABLOKO’s activists provide a list
of violations made by the Regional Electoral Commission
in checking signatures collected by YABLOKO. For example,
graphology experts gave contradictory conclusions concerning
the same signatures: in first group of experts acknowledged
the signatures valid; whereas the second group of experts
found the same signatures invalid.
Press conference Why Opposition Is Not Allowed
to Participate in the Elections will take place in Interfax
tomorrow, on February 16, at 2 p.m.
Speakers:
Sergei Mitrokhin, YABLOKO’s leader
Maxim Petlin, Chair of the Sverdlovsk branch of YABLOKO
and deputy of Ekaterinburg City Duma
Sergei Lazaryev, deputy of the Sverdlovsk Region Duma, number
two in YABLOKO’s list at the regional elections.
Vladislav Morozov, Chair of the Kaluga branch of YABLOKO,
deputy of the Kaluga Region Duma.
Accreditation at tel. 7-495-250-88-32 (until
1 p.m. on February 16). Journalists should show their credentials.
Address: Pervaya Tverskaya-Yamskaya, 2 (Mayakovskaya metro
station).
About 700 people participated
despite sever frosts in the rally for protection of Baikal
in Irkutsk. Members of ecological organisations, members
and supporters of YABLOKO, residents of Irkutsk and Baikalsk
and CPRF members spoke against resuming of functioning of
the Baikal Pulp Plant.
The rally organised by the ecological organisation
The Baikal Wave and the Baikal movement was held under the
slogans “To close the Baikal Pulp Plant!”, “To
provide alternative jobs to the residents of Baikalsk!”
and “Stop budget financing of oligarch Deripaska!”
One of the most brilliant Russia’s
journalists and member of YABLOKO Boris Vishnevsky has become
laureate of the highest award of the Union of Journalists
of Russia.
On February 12, 2010, journalist of Novaya
Gazeta Boris Vishnevsky was announced to win Russia’s
Golden Pen award. He has become the first journalist from
St.Petersburg who was awarded the prize. Chairman of the
Union of Journalists Vsevolod Bogdanov handed Vishnevsky
the award for “a series of publications in the federal
and regional papers on the building of the [scandalous]
Gazprom’s skyscraper in St.Petersburg”.
“I am very glad to receive this award for my publications
against building of the Okhta-Centre,” Vishnevsky
told to his colleagues journalists. “I shall be happy
if my and many other publications will help to stop building
of this skyscraper. We shall not allow them to spoil St.Petersburg!
If we hit this goal, this would mean that all that I’ve
been doing has not passed in vain,” he said.
On January 31, 2010, Gelendzhik YABLOKO
conducted a meeting of protest against destruction of the
Utrish relict lagoons, where the Presidential Property Management
Department planned to build a “sports and recreation
complex” and Administration of the Krasnodar Area
– commercial buildings. Public protest action took
place by the city Administration building.
And already on February 5, Sergei Buldakov,
leader of the local YABLOKO branch was informed that he
was transferred to another work place located in 57 km from
his current place. Alexander Umitbayaev, Director General
of the Vodokanal municipal state company, where Buldakov
worked informed Buldakov of this transfer.
LI full member, the Alliance Party of Northern
Ireland, has set out its conditions for taking the post
of Justice Minister in Northern Ireland's power sharing
government. The transfer of policing and justice powers
from London to Belfast, one of the last major sticking points
in Northern Ireland's lengthy peace process, is now slated
for 12 April following recent all-party negotiations. Alliance,
the only significant party in Northern Ireland which draws
support from both main sectors of the community, is tipped
for the Justice Minister post after the largest pro-British
and pro-Irish parties made it clear that they would block
nominations from parties with support from only one part
of Northern Ireland's divided society. Alliance Leader David
Ford comments: “I have always been clear that any
nomination of an Alliance member for Minister of Justice
would be based around agreeing policies across the power
sharing government, and putting in place a strategy on breaking
down segregation and sectarianism in Northern Ireland...Alliance
is not interested in personality politics or ministerial
office for the perks. Alliance is ambitious to serve in
government to make a real difference and promote Alliance's
liberal values and policies”.
On behalf of the YABLOKO party I am pleased
to express our heartiest congratulations to Arseny Roginsky
on the case of his receiving the Officer Cross award of
the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Arseny
Roginsky is a renowned Russian human rights activist and
historian studying the political terror period. His large
contribution into protection of human rights is difficult
to overestimate...
Arseny Roginsky will also deliver a lecture
The Anatomy and Scopes of Stalin’s Terror within the
framework of YABLOKO’s lectures.
Why is Russia romanticising the memory
of Stalinism, enquires Memorial's founder Arseny Roginsky,
when its defining feature was the use of terror?
The memory of Stalinism in contemporary Russia raises problems
which are painful and sensitive. There is a vast amount
of pro-Stalinist literature on the bookstalls: fiction,
journalism and pseudo-history. In sociological surveys,
Stalin invariably features among the first three "most
prominent figures of all times". In the new school
history textbooks, Stalinist policy is interpreted in a
spirit of justification.
There are also hundreds of crucial volumes of documents,
scholarly articles and monographs on Stalinism. The achievements
of these historians and archivists is unquestionable. But
if they do have any influence on the mass consciousness,
it is too weak. The means of disseminating the information
have not been there, and nor in recent years has the political
will. However, the deepest problem lies in the current state
of our national historical memory of Stalinism.
“When they are ousting us from the
election race this means that they are afraid of us!”
said YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin. On February
9, 2010, the Sverdlovsk Region Electoral Commission with
multiple violations of the law refused to register YABLOKO
in the election race to the regional parliament.
The working group of the Electoral Commission
gave a conclusion based on a graphologic expertise that
56% of the signatures collected by the party and required
for registration in the race were “void”. However,
the experts conducting the handwriting comparison gave contradictory
answers virtually on all the lists. “Thus, the experts
acknowledged 2,000 signatures void on a pretext that they
had been made by a “shaking hand”, stressed
Maxim Petlin, Chair of the Sverdlovsk regional branch of
YABLOKO.
“Refusing to register YABLOKO’s
list in the Sverdlovsk region after a refusal to register
YABLOKO in the Kaluga region the authorities once again
confirm that there is no evolution of Russia’ political
system towards democratization and political competition,”
stated YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin. “We
go on living under the arbitrary rule of the bureaucrats
servicing the interests of their own party – United
Russia.”
The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO
expresses its categorical protest in connection with the
actions of the Chair of the Sverdlovsk Electoral Commission
V.D.Mostovschikov.
Mostovschikov made multiple statements in
the mass media on alleged violations of law in proposing
the list of candidates to the election, the documents submitted
to the electoral commission, including signatures submitted
for enrollment in the race, prior to adoption of decisions
by the electoral commission. We assess the actions of the
Chair of the Sverdlovsk Electoral Commission as unlawful,
biased and virtually representing propaganda in favour of
other parties participation in the election, first of all
progovernmental United Russia.
Russia can only move forward in developing
a truly fair, free and democratic society if it puts to
bed once and for all the ghosts of its past. This was the
conclusion from a seminar organised by the European Liberal
Democrat's parliamentary group about "how the Kremlin
thinks and what this means for Europe" that took place
last Wednesday.
Panelists, including ELDR's Russian party
leaders, Sergey Mitrokhin, Yaboloko, and Mikhail Kasyanov,
People's Democratic Union, agreed that the specter of Stalin's
Russia is still hanging over modern day society and is preventing
the country from initiating the reforms that are needed
to facilitate its development, including strengthening its
ties with the European Union.
Sergey Mitrokhin spoke about telling Russian
President Medvedev the importance of publically acknowledging
that Stalinism is in the past. Mitrokhin referred to what
he called a "hankering for former times" that
is pervading the thoughts of Russian citizens as the present
government fails to deliver the reforms that are necessary
for the country to proposer in the 21st century.
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
called to the activisation of efforts in the introduction
of a visa-free regime between Russia and the European Union
at the meeting of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats
for Europe (ALDE) taking place in Brussels today. ALDE is
the third largest faction in the European Parliament holding
the balance between the right and the left.
Sergei Mitrokhin told in his speech that
“the European Union should work out a strategy for
interaction with Russia based on integration rather than
confrontation”. “The European Union should initiate
the projects that would involve and initiate the Russian
society and elite into the European values and approaches,”
he said. According to Mitrokhin, such a strategy can ensure
Russia’s movement along the European way of development...
According to Mitrokhin, the idea of abolishing
visas between Russia and the EU was proposed as early as
in 1995 by the YABLOKO faction in the Russian parliament.
“We specially invited then Foreign Minister of the
Russian Federation Igor Ivanov and persuaded him that this
initiative was not a fantasy,” Mitrokhin said. He
also noted that in 2003 Ivanov shared these ideas with his
Italian counterpart.
A number of MPs of the European Parliament
supported the idea of development of a new European strategy
in relations with Russia and agreed with Mitrokhin that
the European Union had not developed such a strategy yet.
Some MPs also supported the proposals on the earliest introduction
of a visa-free regime and also stated that they would welcome
Russia’s perspective joining the European Union...
The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO
considers abolishing of the visa barrier separating the
European Union and Russia be the most important and a very
necessary step towards RF-EU integration.
The advantages that both the sides will get in solving this
problem considerably overweight the bureaucratic problems
that may seem insurmountable today.
We are certain that the issue of elimination
the visa barrier between Russia and Europe should be examined
and solved by politicians rather than bureaucrats. A political
will towards strategic decision-making will enable us to
find constructive ways out in such issues as, for example,
the readmission problem.
We would like to specially stress that freedom
of movement within Great Europe is not reduced for the Russian
citizens to facilitation of their business, study or tourist
trips (albeit this is also very important). This means their
normal life within a single European civilization on the
basis of shared principles. And this issue has become especially
acute when a visa barrier separated us from our closest
Eastern European neighbours as close interaction with them
has always been and continue to be very important when we
speak about European trends in Russia.
We are proud to announce that we are launching
lectures of Memorial heads and experts within the programme
of our Evening University.
Please find below the schedule of the first lectures...
Please also note that you can see Memorial’s
exhibition A History of an Execution at YABLOKO’s
office...
Statement of the Bureau of the YABLOKO
party, February 1, 2010
On January 28, 2010 the police of the Irkutsk
region without any rulings of the court or public prosecutor
blocked the work of the largest public organisation engaged
in protection of the Lake Baikal – The Baikal Ecological
Wave – confiscating their computers under the pretext
of a check whether this organisation had been using licensed
software. However, the representatives of the interior refused
even to look at the certificates of the software submitted
to them. The ecologists who tried to disobey confiscation
of their computers were threatened with legal persecution
in view of “attacking the police”.
The YABLOKO party expresses its resolute
protest in view of such actions of the interior and considers
them as a awkward attempt to shut down the wave of public
discontent in view of the adoption by the Government of
the RF of a resolution allowing to resume functioning of
the Baikal Pulp Plant that have been polluting Baikal with
its waste, as well as stored, buried and burnt hazardous
waste on the banks of the lake. Such governmental decision
was adopted in satisfaction of short-term interests of the
owner of the plant – a definite tycoon, and contradicts
Russia’s interests.
Governor of the Moscow Region Boris Gromov
motioned a libel suit against YABLOKO’s leader Sergei
Mitrokhin who had laid blame for a physical attack on Editor-in-Chief
of Khimskinskaya Pravda oppositional paper Mikhail Beketov.
The official claims compensation of RUR 500,000 (about USD
16,600) for the moral damage.
Sergei Mitrokhin stated that the party had
grounds to think that “Administration of the Khimki
city district and personally Head of Administration Strelchenko
supported by Governor Gromov are behind this crime”
during an action held on November 16, 2009 one year after
the attack. A
video record of Sergei Mitrokhin’s speech published
at YABLOKO’s web-site was used by the Governor
as an evidence of libel.
On November 13, 2008, Editor-in-Chief of
Khimskinskaya Pravda oppositional paper Mikhail Beketov
who had been opposing the construction of a paid highway
Moscow – St.Petersburg, was found unconscious in the
yard of his house. Doctors stated a severe head injury,
multiple factions and injuries. Despite treatment Beketov
remains a handicapped – he can not take care of himself
and his speech functions have not restored. The action in
support of Beketov was held under the slogans “Attack
on Beketov Is an Attack on the Freedom of Speech”
and “Attack on Beketov Is Political Terror”.
Social orphanage Zhizn (Life) gives shelter
and normal living conditions to orphans and social orphans.
The orphanage was founded over 15 years ago and helped to
about 600 children. The orphanage does not get any state
aid and has been financed by private donations only.
At present the orphanage has to move to
a new place and its expenditures have abruptly grown. Zhizn
would be grateful for any aid, as it is moving to empty
flats. For bank transfers pls use the following banking
details (it is important to indicate that it is charity).
Even if you do not have a possibility to
help us financially, you can help to the orphanage by spreading
information about it.
...In the absence of serious attention to
the raise of political culture and freedom of speech, elections
in our country will become a fest of demagogues and populists
killing the system.
The main problems and goals of the society
and the state in the field of creation of modern political
system and political reform do not represent a mere correction,
they mean bringing of life and sense into Russian politics.
Only in this case it will be of interest
for the people and will be worthy of their attention. To
achieve this we should first of all raise the level of public
consciousness and open opportunities for public participation
in the power and politics.
We think that to prevent dissolution of
the Russian political system in 2010 – 2012 we need
to undertake the following gradual but nonetheless decisive
steps...
The key problem of Russia’s political
system is monopolism which manifests itself in three major
ways:
1) bodies of power and parliaments of all
levels demonstrate monopoly of one party representing the
interests of bureaucracy and large-scale business merged
with it;
2) complete dominance of the executive over the judicial
authority;
3) dictate of one social class – the bureaucracy –
over all other social groups.
Thus, the present political system generally reproduces
the Soviet system, with its key flaw – the monopoly
of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on power.
Russia’s leaders are looking to the
country’s history to find ways to justify renewed
imperial ambitions. While a study of foreign experience
shows that there are numerous ways to for a country to deal
with its totalitarian past, the problem is complicated in
the post-Communist context because politicians seek to use
history as a tool for their own purposes. The YABLOKO party
recently adopted a resolution dealing with the uses of history
to stimulate democratic transition, but it so far has had
no impact on Russian society.
Today on January 29, 2010, the residents
of the bulldozed Rechnik village together with YABLOKO activists
organised a mobile picket in the form of automobile race.
Since 2-30 p.m. picketing took place by the RF Government’s
building. YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitorkhin took place in
the action.The participants of the picket hold a placard
running “Yes to the amnesty of dachas!” and picturing President
Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin.
“We consider all the developments in Rechnik
complete lawlessness, as not only a law on the “amnesty”
of dachas but also a number of other laws make bureaucrats
to file property title on land and houses in such cooperatives
as Rechnik,” Mitrokhin told to journalists. “We think that
this lawlessness is performed in the interests of bureaucracy
and large business which would like to use this territory.
The state demonstrates its cynical attitude to the people
who with their own labour made money for construction of
their private houses on legally purchased plots of land,”
he added.
The staff of the Government of the Moscow
Region interfered with YABLOKO’s one-man picketing
in front of their building. YABLOKO protests against virtual
introduction of a ban on one-man pickets which has been
initiated by the Moscow Region Duma.
The parliament of the Moscow Region submitted
to the State Duma a draft law stipulating that one-man pickets
(in addition to demonstrations, rallies and group pickets)
should be not only coordinated with the authorities but
organisers of such pickets should also submit the plan and
schedule of such picketing. Activists of the Moscow Region
branch of YABLOKO call one-man picketing the only form of
street protest which has been available, as normally the
authorities ban rallies and pickets with a large number
of participants under faked pretexts.
Ekaterinburg’s Mayor Arkady Chernetsky set
in motion a lawsuit against deputy of the city Duma and
leader of the regional YABLOKO branch Maxim Petlin.
The Mayor began a defamation case stating
that Maxim Petlin had libeled against him at TV programme
Vesti. The Mayor assessed his moral damage at RUR 600,000
(approximately USD 20,000) which makes 30 per cent of his
official annual income amounting to RUR 1,700,000.
“Once Chernetsky sold out half of all the
kindergartens buildings in Ekaterinburg,” Petlin said at
the Vesti programme. The Mayor considered this statement
be a libel.
However, explaining this situation Chernetsky
told to the anchor of the Studio 41 TV programme that he
had sold “only three kindergartens”. Other had been transferred
to different companies and entities “free of charge”.
Tomorrow on January 28, the Moscow City
Court will examine YABLOKO’s cassation appeals on
the decisions of district courts rejecting YABLOKO’s
claims of recounting votes at four electoral districts where
the United Russia party was added over 1,500 votes by sheer
fraud during election to the Moscow parliament.
A cassation appeal on the decision of the
Perovo District Court will be examined in room 225 at 10-30
a.m. In late December the court declined YABLOKO’s
suit on annulment of the results of the voting at electoral
districts No 887 and 888. According the official data, the
United Russia party obtained there 1,002 votes more than
was indicated in the signed copies of the protocols handed
to the observers.
Yesterday the Charter Court of St.Petersburg
refused to examine the complaint of Maxim Reznik, the leader
of St.Petersburg YABLOKO branch. Reznik claimed the resolution
of the St.Petersburg’s government on construction
of 403 meter high Okhta-Centre and a number of legislative
acts should be cancelled. The Charter Court as well as Public
Prosecutor preferred not to interfere into the scandal around
Gazprom’s skyscraper Okhta-Centre and wait until “a
general jurisdiction court makes its judgment”.
Reznik applied to the St.Petersburg’s
Charter Court claiming that the resolution of the city government
headed by Governor Valentina Matviyenko was unlawful as
allowed Gazprom to construct at 403 meter high skyscraper
prohibited in the historical part of the city. Also Reznik
asked to cancel several normative acts (on regulation of
city construction and public hearings) that served as a
basis for the scandalous resolution.
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
called Vladimir Resin, head of the Moscow Construction Complex,
to apply to the Bailiffs Service with a demand to suspend
housebreaking in the Rechnik settlement at least by the
end of frosts. Such a proposal was made by Sergei Mitorkhin
during yesterday’s meeting with Vladimir Resin devoted
to the problems Moscow’s construction complex.
“Whatever ideas of the Moscow authorities
could be here, but housebreaking and evicting people to
the street in such frosts is barbarity. I proposed to Vladimir
Resin to conduct conciliatory procedures with the residents
of Rechnik, however, I did not get any support here,”
Mitrokhin said. Nevertheless YABLOKO’s leader has
been insisting on his proposals.
“I also expect some reaction to these
developments from President Medvedev and Prime Minister
Putin whom I reported about this situation at the State
Council meeting,” Mitorkhin said.
After Taimuraz Mamsurov, head of the North
Ossetia, and Yunus-bek-Yevkurov, head of Ingushetia, signed
a programme for broadening of cooperation among republics,
activists of youth movements also held their actions targeted
at prevention of conflicts.
Youth public and human rights organisations
from Chechnya, North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Ingushetia
met at the forum Youth for Peace at the Caucasus. YABLOKO
activists from the North Ossetian branch of the party also
took part in the forum.
“Apple tree garden in Biryulyovo,
Moscow, will not be cut”, Vladimir Resin, head of
the Moscow Construction Complex told to YABLOKO’s
leader Sergei Mitrokhin during their meeting today. Moreover,
the plot of land with the apple tree garden will be included
into the natural reserve Biryulyovo Dendrary Park...
It is already the second apple tree garden
saved by YABLOKO. In 2006 the party managed to stop cutting
of the trees in Davydkovo district.
Interview with Galina Mikhaylovna Mikhalyova,
Doctor of Philosophy, Director of Center for Contemporary
Politics Research, and Executive Secretary of the Political
Committee of the YABLOKO party
On the threashold of Political Council meeting
on political reform sheduled on January 22, the Kremlin
received seven draft programmes for reform from all the
parties. The reader may recall that the Communists asked
Dmitry Medvedev to hold this State Council meeting during
their meeting with him after the parliamentary opposition's
demarche and announcement that October elections were fraudulent.
The parties' proposals will become the basis of a report
to be presented at the State Council meeting by Kaliningrad
Oblast Governor Georgy Boos, the head of the working group.
Doctor of Philosophy Galina Mikhalyova, Director of the
Center for Contemporary Politics Research and Executive
Secretary of the YABLOKO Party's Political Committee, talked
about what the parties want from the President.
This morning YABLOKO’s leader Sergei
Mitrokhin arrived at the site of the Rechnik village where
bulldozers began pulling down the houses early in the morning.
Mitrokhin noted that YABLOKO had been deterring
pulling down of the village for two years. According to
Mitrokhin, the Court Bailiffs Service, the police and the
local authorities resumed their efforts as soon as the term
of YABLOKO’s deputies in the Moscow City Duma expired
and YABLOKO was not able to get the mandates after fraudulent
elections of October 11.
On arriving at the site Mitorkhin called
Ferdauis Yusupov, head of the Moscow Court Bailiffs Service.
Yusupov asked Mitrokhin to find out whether there were any
court decisions or documents for pulling down the houses.
However, when Mitrokhin tried to find out the legal basis
for demolishing of the village he was quickly blocked by
police. Policemen made a cordon around him and did not let
him freely move in the territory of the village.
Activists and leaders of the YABLOKO party
participated in the action in memory of Stanislav Markelov
and Anastasiya Baburova murdered a year ago.
Party leader Sergei Mitrokhin and member
of the Political Committee Sergei Kovalyov participated
in the march along Petrovsky Boulevard. Grigory Yavlinsky
laid flowers to the place where Markelov and Baburova were
killed and came to the picket by the Griboyedov monument
where the march ended.
YABLOKO’s activists noted that they
managed to escape mass-scale police reprisals only due to
interference of Russia’s Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin
who came to Petrovsky Boulevard.
At present YABLOKO’s activists are
trying to prevent the second wave of arrests, provoked by
the police who tore the megaphone from the speakers at the
picket.
The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO
states that the work of human rights activists and independent
journalists in Russia have not become less dangerous for
the year since the murder of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasiya
Baburova.
It’s not only because the past year
saw new attacks against human rights.
Nothing changed in the policies of the authorities
and the situation with resentment of dissenting opinions
promoted by the state mass media. State officials have been
treating human rights activists as the enemies of the state,
and their opinion coincides here with that of nationalists
and fascists.
Such an attitude of the state to human rights
activists demonstrates that at present Russia is not a law-governed
state and, moreover, it does not try to become such.
Picket against scanty pensions accrued by
the state to the military pensioners was held by the Ministry
of Defence today. The activists of the YABLOKO party and
the Elder Generation movement (the former Pensioners’ Party)
protested against the present system of calculation of pensions
basing on the fixed wage only and neglecting all the wage
increments and bonuses the military normally get. This system
leaves military pensioners with tiny pensions despite their
real aggregate earnings during their service.
The activists of the Youth YABLOKO held
a banner “Military Pensions Are a Shame on the State!”
Sergei Mitrokhin’s blog at
the Echo Moskvi web-site, January 17, 2010
My post about the criminal mapping of the
communist regime provoked an ardent discussion [in my blog].
However, I think that not all the readers have carefully
thought over the issue.
In my post I wrote that there had been different
crimes of communism against nations, and that they had been
taking not only the form of terror or Famine genocide. Artificial
division of nations implemented throughout the Soviet history
is also a crime. [President of Ukraine] Viktor Yuschenko
has been insisting on consideration of the Famine genocide
only as a crime against the Ukrainian nation. In my view
this represents typical political manoeuvring. Stalinist-Bolsheviks
crimes targeted not only the Ukrainian nation. It is undeserving
to speculate with such things for political reasons and
basing on our common tragedy boost nationalism and hatred
among nations.
If International Tribunal on the crimes
of communism could take place, there would be certainly
raised an issue about criminal separation of nations by
means of arbitrary boundaries. It would be important for
Russia, but before this Russia should on the state level
and officially in the legal form condemn Stalinism as the
hardest crime, including such crimes as deportation of nations
and many other, including Famine genocide as a terrible
crime of Stalin’s regime.
Sergei Mitrokhin’s blog at
the Echo Moskvi web-site, January 15, 2010
Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko put
forward an initiative to call an international tribunal
on the crimes of communism.
I think that his initiative should be completely
supported by the Russian leaders. This would be a good method
to finally give a distinct state assessment to the criminal
acts of Bolsheviks – communists.
Certainly it would be better if we could
initiate such a tribunal in our country. As despite the
Famine genocide, the Russian nation and other nations living
in Russia suffered far more from the Bolshevik-Stalinist
genocide than the Ukrainian nation.
Speaking about crimes against people, I
should point out that they took place not only in the form
of genocide. Maybe Viktor Yuschenko did not think about
this, as if he did he would not propose such an idea.
Artificial division of nations conducted
throughout the Soviet history is a crime. Maybe not so grave
as genocide, but nonetheless a crime.
Sergei Mitrokhin, leader of the YABLOKO
party, applied to the Ministry of Economic Development,
the State Register and Public Prosecutor General demanding
dismissal of O.Chapkovskaya, head of the Tikhoretsky Department
of the Federal Registering Agency in the Krasnodar area.
The said official completely blocked registration of citizens’
joint shared ownership to agricultural lands.
The official had been vioting constitutional
rights of the citizens for two years, and the latter had
to seek justice in court. The court examined 107 complaints
on unlawful actions of an official, making judgments on
each of the cases recognizing the actions of the state registrator
Chapkovskaya unlawful.
After the dubious recent regional elections
in Russia, LI Full Member YABLOKO presented a democratic
alternative to the Russian people during its congress. Party
leader Sergei Mitrokhin said he wanted to concentrate on
the important upcoming elections to the State Duma, with
a focus on state control over elections at all levels. He
called for the launch of a broad-scale discussion in society
which should lead to the formation of a new democratic project
for Russia. Grigory Yavlinsky, one of the party's founders,
presented a report on the political situation in the country
and the tasks of the party, and expressed YABLOKO's democratic
alternative for the Russian political system: “The
first goals are the introduction of freedom of speech, development
of local self-governing, civil and human rights organisations,
and trade unions. It is necessary to move towards abolishing
of censorship, return to direct elections, gradual and complete
refusal from interference of the state into the parties'
affairs, change of election laws and freedom in party financing”.
“Klin Should Get an Honest Public
Prosecutor,” – such is the slogan of pickets
conducted by the residents of the Klin district, Moscow
Region, and YABLOKO by the office of the Public prosecutor
of the Moscow Region.
Oleg Stalnov, Public Prosecutor of Klin,
was dismissed from his post and downgraded to the post of
deputy Public Prosecutor of the city of Domodedovo. It has
been unclear who may take the post in Klin.The residents
of the city and representatives of public organisations
conducted several actions and rallies demanding to dismiss
Oleg Stalnov due to the growth of corruption and general
negligence of his office. Thus in September 2009, YABLOKO
initiated a rally of about 500 people demanding to dismiss
Stalnov.
After his dismissal YABLOKO, the Society
for Preservation of Nature of the Moscow Region and the
Farmers’ Front sent a letter to the Public Prosecutor
General demanding to “control the appointment of a
new Public Prosecutor for Klin and ensure that Klin would
get an honest Public Prosecutor”.
Russia,
Yabloko Congress - elections control top priority
The second session of the 15th Congress of the YABLOKO party
took place on December 19-20, 2009.
YABLOKO’s Chairman, Sergei Mitrokhin (picture), called
on the Congress delegates to concentrate on the tasks of
the coming elections to the State Duma focusing attention
on the way the elections are conducted at all stages.
“The regional elections we had in October 2009 demonstrated
that degradation of the Russian political system shifted
to a new level,” Mitrokhin said. According to the
chairman, the country has been returning to the initial
point of the late 1980s – early 1990s, the point of
passive social dissatisfaction under the conditions of authoritative
power.
The YABLOKO party in the Republic of Tatarstan
jointly with the movement Against Crime and Lawlessness
conducted alternative public hearings on introduction of
amendments to the Charter of Kazan connected with elections
of the city Mayor. About 40 people – former deputies,
well-known public figures, ecologists and representatives
of the Guild of Small and Medium Businesses – participated
in the discussion held on January 9.
Elections of the Mayor of Kazan and deputies
of the regional parliament will take place in October 2010.
The President and the present Mayor have already voiced
their opinions that the Mayor should be elected by the deputies,
however, the regional branch of YABLOKO disagree with this
due to the following reasons...
On behalf of the Memorial organisation,
I would like to thank the European Parliament for its high
accolade – the Sakharov Prize.
We at Memorial see this award as relating
not only to our organisation. We take the view that, through
us, the prize is being bestowed on the whole human rights
community in Russia, and indeed more widely – on the
entire section of Russian civil society sympathetic towards
defenders of human rights. For forty years now – first
in the Soviet Union and then in Russia – human rights
defenders have been standing up for ‘European’,
that is to say, universal values. This struggle has never
been easy; in recent years it has become tragic, as it increasingly
claims the lives of the best, the most active and the most
fearless.
I am sure that, in awarding the Sakharov
Prize to the Memorial organisation, the European Parliament
had them in mind, first and foremost – our dead friends,
comrades-in-arms, kindred spirits. This prize belongs by
right to them. And the first name I should cite is that
of Natalya Estemirova, human rights defender and fellow
member of Memorial, murdered this summer in Chechnya.
I cannot go on without mentioning other
names too: the lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalists
Anna Politkovskaya and Anastasia Baburova, murdered in Moscow,
ethnologist Nikolai Girenko shot in St Petersburg, Farid
Babayev, murdered in Dagestan, and many others – sadly,
it is a list that could go on for a long time. I ask you
to honour the memory of these people by standing.
The relatives of leader of Dagestan YABLOKO
and human rights activist Farid Babayev murdered in 2007,
expressed their concern that the defendants had been ruining
the case and that the killers would get freedom soon. The
key witness of the plaintiffs who had seen the killer suddenly
retracted his testimony.
On January 20, 2009, the Supreme Court of
Dagestan ruled out that Rasil Mamedrizayev, a citizen of
Dagestan, was guilty of murder and sentenced him to 16 years
of imprisonment. The second of the culprits Seferali Sefemerzoyev
accused of complicity in the murder was acquitted.The plaintiffs
appealed this decision in the Supreme Court of the Russian
Federation. The barrister of Mamedrizayev also appealed
the decision demanding acquittal for his client. On June
4, 2009, the Supreme Court of Russia abrogated the previous
decision and send the case to the Supreme Court of Dagestan
to a new trial by a new composition of the court.
The only witness who gave testimony in the
case under a fictitious name of Telman Akayev had seen the
murderer running from the site of the crime with a gun in
his hand. The witness memorized the face of the killer and
pointed at Mamedrizayev during the investigation. Akayev
confirmed his testimony at one of the trials standing behind
the screen. After that the barrister of the accused Suleiman
Azuyev threatened the witness stating that he and his relatives
are well-known to the defendants. Despite multiple applications
to the court the Investigation Committee of the Public Prosecutor’s
Office failed to provide steadfast protection to the witness.
The witness missed several sessions of the court and later
there emerged information that he left for Uzbekistan together
with his family.
Resolution of the 15th congress
of the YABLOKO party No 253, December 24, 2009
The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO
regards the supreme goal of a democratic state as ensuring
of flourishing of the country, the well-fare and the highest
living standards for the citizens. One of the most important
functions of the government is ensuring of ecological safety
of the citizens and protection of nature as a national resource
which is regarded as a public asset.
The political and economic system of modern Russia, its
supreme political and economic administration grossly violates
the principles of ecological policies determined by the
Constitution of the Russian Federation: the rights of the
citizens to a friendly environment, reliable information
on its condition, recovering of the damage incurred in ecological
violations, rational use and protection of natural resources
and careful attitude to the natural riches that should be
regarded as a foundation for life and performance of the
citizens.
1. The policies of Boris Yeltsin – Vladimir Putin
– Dmitry Medvedev created a system of underdeveloped
periphery capitalism in Russia almost entirely basing on
the maintenance and development of environmentally unfriendly
productions left from the Soviet times. Neither the government
nor business merging with the authorities pay any serious
attention to the safe environment, as it is connected with
reduction of their super profits. Consequently, Russia logically
and inevitably has found itself on the periphery of rapidly
developing innovative world.
Resolution of the 15th congress
of the YABLOKO party No 252, December 24, 2009
The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO
once again expresses its deep concern on the political and
economic situation in the Northern Caucasus.
Despite victorious reports on stabilisation
of the situation in the Northern Caucasus the policies of
the Russian authorities completely failed. Escalation of
armed conflicts has been going on, clan-authoritarian developments
and corruption has continued to grow in this region.
Mass-scale violations of human rights by
the interior and law-enforcement agencies do not cease,
Russian laws are not observed and high level of unemployment
and economic retardness has been still preserved. Kidnapping
and murders, first of all of human rights activists, in
the Northern Caucasus have already become a norm. Farid
Babayev, Natalya Estemirova, the spouses Sadulayev, Magomed
Yevloyev and other renown human rights activists and descendants
were murdered in the recent years.
We are greatly concerned that the killers and those who
ordered these loud political murders have not been found
yet, or, like in the case with Magomed Yevloyev, they manage
to avoid just punishment.
Despite a moratorium on capital punishment,
extrajudicial executions have been implemented in Russia,
Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachayevo-Cherkessia.
The second session of the 15th Congress
of the YABLOKO party took place on December 19-20, 2009.
YABLOKO’s Chairman Sergei Mitrokhin
opened the Congress with a report on organisational tasks
of the party. He called the Congress to concentrate on the
tasks of the coming elections to the State Duma focusing
attention on the control over elections at all the stages.
Also by-elections to the Bureau took place on the first
Congress day.
Reports of the political leaders of the
party were on the Congress agenda on the second day.
“The regional elections we had in
October 2009 demonstrated that degradation of the Russian
political system shifted to a new stage,” Mitrokhin
said. According to Mitrokhin, the country has been returning
to the initial point of late 1980s – early 1990s,
the point of passive social dissatisfaction under the conditions
of authoritative power.
“The democratic project is over, the
society turned it down,” such was Mitrokhin’s
conclusion. He called the delegates of the Congress to review
the basic approaches which discredited democracy in the
eyes of the majority and launch a broad-scale discussion
in the society which should lead to formation of a new democratic
project for Russia.
Grigory Yavlinsky, member of YABLOKO’s
Political Committee, made a detailed report on the political
situation in the country and the tasks of the party.
According to Yavlinsky, “Russia’s
political system has stopped being imitational as nobody
believes in imitation any more.” “If the citizens
of the country do not believe that they are choosing the
authority, this means that both the President and the Government,
and the Parliament put themselves in a very unstable position,”
he said.
“Propaganda of Stalinism should be
prohibited,” such a statement was made by YABLOKO’s
leader Sergei Mitrokhin in view of celebration of Joseph
Stalin’s birthday conducted by the Communist Party
of the Russian Federation and a number of other political
organisations.
“Today’s celebration [of the
130th anniversary] of the executioner of the Russian people
and other nations of the former USSR represents a fest on
the blood of the murdered and those tortured to death, a
witless joy about the national catastrophe of 1920-1930s,”
Mitrokhin said.
Mitrokhin expressed his certainly that “Stalin
was responsible for the death of the best people of the
Russian nation.” “The CPRF and other political
organisations that are making this blasphemous celebration
are demonstrating the hypocrisy of their statements in favour
of protection of the rights of the working people, as their
idol Stalin eliminated millions of working people,”
Mitrokhin stressed.
Mitrokhin also proposed to immediately ban
propaganda of Nazism and Stalinism.
Deputy head of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO
Eugeni Bunimovich was appointed Ombudsman for Children in
Moscow. The corresponding order was signed by Moscow Ombudsman
Alexander Muzikansky.
“I find this post very important,
as I as well as any other person realise what should be
done here,” Bunimovich told to the Interfax news agency.
Bunimovich also noted that the post of Moscow
Ombudsman for Children’s Rights is quite independent
in the administration of the Moscow Ombudsman. Speaking
about his plans Bunimovich told that “he is not the
Plenary Meeting of the Communist Party of the USSR to make
definite plans”, he “will first examine what
problems and complaints people have and only after that
will make plans.”
However, Bunimovich noted that he would
pay special attention to children’s risk groups –
orphans, neglected children and other, as well as legal
education in the field of human rights for children and
grown-ups. “Grown-ups often do not understand what
is a violation of child’s rights or, for example,
humiliation”, he noted.
Chairman of the YABLOKO party Sergei Mitrokhin
demanded that Anton Zhebrun, young YABLOKO activist expelled
from the Omsk University, should be allowed to resume his
studies in the university. Such a claim was sent by Sergei
Mitrokhin to Public Prosecutor of the Omsk Region and the
head of the Education Control Agency.
YABLOKO connects expelling of the student
with his public activities, as he is one of the leaders
of the Omsk Youth YABLOKO.
A solemn ceremony of awarding the Sakharov
Prize took place at the session of the European Parliament
in Strasburg on December 16. The laureates of the prize
were Russian human rights activists Ludmila Alexeyeva, Sergei
Kovalyov and Oleg Orlov. Human rights activists called the
European legislators “not to turn a deaf ear”
to Russian lawlessness, and President of the European Parliament
Jerzy Buzek expressed his hope that the murderers of Anna
Politkovskaya and Natalya Estemirova will be hold for court.
European legislators welcomed the laureates
with a storm of applause. Sergei Kovalyov in his speech
expressed his gratitude to the European Parliament for a
warm welcome, and asked the audience to hold a minute of
silence in memory of Natalya Estemirova, human rights activist
from the Memorial human rights centre, killed in Chechnya
in July 2009. “Europe should not keep silence when
human rights are violated in Russia,” Kovalyov said.
President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek in his
turn expressed his hope that the prize will encourage human
rights activists to continue their fight against lawlessness
and protect the values that “we have been promoting
– freedom and democracy”.
The Khabarovsk branch of YABLOKO nominated
three candidates to run in the election campaign for the
regional Legislative Assembly. Yesterday the conference
of the regional YABLOKO branch elected three candidates
to run in single-mandate electoral districts in Khabarovsk
and Amursk.
A coalition of parties and movements in
the Kaliningrad region expressed their dissatisfaction with
the work of the Governor of the Kaliningrad Region.
The Constitution Day of December 12 was
marked by a rally which gathered 5,000 people. The participants
of the rally expressed their negative attitude to the policies
of the ruling party and the leaders of the region and of
the Russian Federation.
The trigger for public dissatisfaction was
raising of the transport tax adopted by the regional parliament.
It was an unprecented mass-scale action in the centre of
Kaliningrad. All the parties and movements in of the region
– the CPRF, Just Russia, the LDPR, YABLOKO, Solidarity,
Patriots of Russia, Spravedlivost (Justice) and other –
joined in the rally against the progovernmental United Russia
party.
On December 9, 2009, the Evening University
of the YABLOKO party organised a meeting for its students
with Dr. Grigory Yavlinsky, the founder of the party and
member of the Political Committee.
Answering the questions of YABLOKO’s members
and advocates on the present economic, political and social
situation in Russia, elections, Russia’s relations with
other countries, etc. Grigory Yavlinsky noted that a qualitatively
new situation developed in Russia after the elections of
October 11. “No one believes words about democracy in the
country any more after such elections.” Yavlinsky also noted
that the policies of the Russian authorities were unsuccessful.
“The authorities should realise that they do not have the
strength to modernise Russia, this means that the opposition
and other citizens get a chance,” Yavlinsky said.
On December 8, 2009, the award ceremony
of the Russian Ombudsman Medal “Hurry Up to Make Good Deeds”
took place in Moscow. Human rights activists Natalya Estemirova
and Maksharip Aushev awarded medals post mortem.
Both were members of the Expert Council
with the Ombudsman of the Russian Federation. Natalya Estemirova
had been investigating abdications of civilians, executions
and tortures since the First Chechen War. She worked in
the Memorial human rights centre. Maksharip Aushev actively
engaged in the protection of human rights after his son
and nephew abdicated in Grozny in 2007 had been released.
On December 8, 2009, the Perovo District
Court of Moscow declined YABLOKO’s suit on annulment of
the results of the voting at two polling stations in the
Veshnyaki area where 1.002 votes had been simply added to
the progovernmental United Russia party. At the previous
hearings the key witness of YABLOKO – a member of the electoral
commission with a casting vote – made a statement that her
signature in the official protocol had been faked. Signatures
of several other members of the district electoral commission
had been either missing or faked...
YABLOKO asked the court to satisfy its claim
as the Moscow and the local commissions failed to determine
the will of the electorate. However, the judge turned down
YABLOKO’s claim. YABLOKO is going to appeal this decision
in a superior court.
This has become already the second decision
when Moscow local courts were turning down YABLOKO’s suits.
On December 3, 2009, the Golovinsky District Court refused
to satisfy YABLOKO’s claims in connection with two districts
in the Levoberezhny area where United Russia was simply
added votes taken from other parties. The next trial will
take place in the Kuntsevsky District Court.
On December 9, 2009, the Kirov regional
branch of YABLOKO, released a statement (signed by Tatyana
Naumovich, Chair of YABLOKO’s Kirov branch) in support of
YABLOKO’s activist Anton Zhebrun.
The Kirov party branch expresses its indignation
on the fact of expelling Anton Zhebrun, activist of the
Youth YABLOKO, from the Omsk State University under a faked
pretext and considers such actions of Vladimir Strunin,
the University rector, against YABLOKO’s member a political
persecution.
This is a sad fact. It took place in the university; whereas
the very word “university” is associated with academic freedom
and the freedom of speech – freedom to ask, freedom to find
truth on any phenomena and views, regardless of the fact
whether such points of view hurt any officials or not. The
notion of academic freedom is incompatible with the making
political views a pretext for expelling from the university.
Acad.Alexei Yablokov’s blog
at the Echo Moskvi web-site
December 7, 2009
I was wondering why our government suddenly
made a complete ban on incandescent electric bulbs its prime
concern (Law of the RF No 261-FZ “On Energy Saving
and Raising of Energy Efficiency and on Introduction of
Changes into Some Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation”
of November 23, 2009).
And recently I have heard the news that
Europe has been closing production of incandescent electric
lamps of the first generation (luminescent, with mercury)
– the very lamps that have to replace our incandescent
electric bulbs. And these environmentally unfriendly productions
are offered cheaply to those who would be eager to buy them.
Let us make a simple calculation...
On December 5, 2009, YABLOKO’s Political
Committee discussed the ecological policy of the government.
The key report was made by Academician Alexei Yablokov,
leader of the Green Russia faction. After a discussion the
Committee adopted resolution “On the Anti-Environmental
Policies of the Russian Authorities”.
On opening of the meeting the Political
Committee commemorated the victims of the Nevsky Express
railroad crash and the victims of the Perm nightclub fire
by a one-minute silence.
Alexei Yablokov reported on a bad environmental
situation in Russia dwelling on the most acute ecological
problems and offered ways of their solution. According to
the World Health Organisation, 493,000 people die annually
in Russia because of ecological problems. Thus, life expectancy
for men is only 59 years, which is 15 – 18 years less
than in the USA and Japan. And it is even 3 – 4 years
lower in the zones of environmental pollution (about 14%
of the territory of the country).
On Saturday, November 29, 2009, a meeting
of YABLOKO’s Bureau took place in Moscow. The Bureau
adopted decisions on working over persuading the government
not to abolish indexation of unemployment benefits, return
gratuitous public transport tickets for pensioners of the
Moscow Region and creation of nature reserve Utrish. The
Bureau also heard the reports of the Human Rights and the
Gender factions of the party.
The meeting was opened by party Chair Sergei
Mitrokhin who made a report on the political situation in
Russia. “It has become clear after voting on October
11 that elections as a legitimate institution that could
be trusted by the society is completely ruined in Russia.
This means that the democratic project of the country’s
development initiated in the late 1980s has been completely
closed now – and not only by the ruling elite, but
by the society as well,” Mitrokhin said. According
to Mitrokhin, the forthcoming YABLOKO’s congress (that
will take place in December 2009) has to formulate the basis
of a new democratic project for Russia.
Alexander Goncharenko, Valery Borschyov
and Andrei Babushkin became co-chairs of the new human rights
organisation – the Association of Independent Observers.
The foundation conference of the human right organisation
which elected five chairpersons took place in Kirov.
Thus, the heads of the Association will
be Ludmila Alexeyeva, Chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group,
Lev Ponomaryov, head of the For the Human Rights movement
and three YABLOKO’s activists – Vlary Borschyov,
member of the party Bureau, Andrei Babushkin, Deputy Chair
of he Moscow YABLOKO and Alexander Gontcharenko, Chairman
of the Altai YABLOKO branch...
By Galina Mikhalyova, Executive
Secretary of YABLOKO’s Political Committee
kommentarii.ru, November 25, 2009
The congress of the United Russia party
resembles the congresses of the communist party of the Soviet
Union of the Brezhnev’s stagnation period, the present
United Russia congress lacked only young pioneers saluting
their elder comrades and the statue of the Lenin. The key
thing which is common between the two congresses is their
absurdity, an obvious discrepancy between the declared goals
and the reality. The [proclaimed] “conservative modernisation”
ideologeme is something like “dry water”...
The ELDR congress convening in Barcelona
on November 19-20, 2009,
Observes that:
- The elections that took place in Russia on October 11,
2009, demonstrated an unprecedented scope of falsification
of results of the voting and violations of the law confirmed
by observers from all the political parties, except the
ruling party, and mass media.
States that:
- ELDR will closely observe the development of the situation
with lawsuits and complaints on election fraud.
Calls on:
The Russian authorities to:
- conduct a full inspection of candidates and parties’ complaints,
and the evidence of election fraud published by the media,
and take urgent remedy measures up to declaring the elections
void;
- observe democratic standards and Russia’s obligations
under its membership in the OSCE and in the Council of Europe
on ensuring free and fair elections;
- ensure free and equal conditions for all political parties
and candidates and maximum public control over elections
and voting.
Youth YABLOKO is now picketing Public Prosecutor
General's office in Moscow (at the address Bolshaya Dmitrovka,
15a) demanding to release 26 year-old Vladimir Volkov, activist
of the Penza branch of the party, detained for 48 hours
on suspicion of an arson of United Russia’s office
in Penza.
Youth YABLOKO activists hold a placard “Free
activist of the Penza branch of YABLOKO Vladimir Volkov”.
The police have been checking the activists’ documents,
however, have not obstructed the picket yet.
Activist of the Youth YABLOKO Vladimir Volkov
was detained for 48 hours of arson of the United Russia
office in Penza. Earlier his flat had been searched.
Today on November 17, 2009, at 9.00 a.m.
several persons who told that they were interior officers
came to Volkov’s flat where he lives with his parents. They
asked Volkov to come with them, explaining that his lawyer
could come to the interior department where they all would
“talk”.
However, until 2 p.m. neither his parents,
nor the lawyer, nor even investigator Ye.Pluzhnikova had
no information where Volkov was.
Sergei Mitrokhin and the camera crew of
the RenTV channel have been detained by the security of
the Kurkino VIP village by the Valley of the Skhodnya River
natural reserve. The security have detained the politician
and the journalists and have called the police.
Sergei Mitorkhin and the camera crew of
the RenTV channel went to the Valley of the Skhodnya River
natural reserve (where an unknown VIP village was built
on the permission of the ex-head of the North-Western District
of Moscow Viktor Kozlov) so that to study the situation
with returning of the plot unlawfully granted to General
Major of the interior Anatoli Petukhov. On November 5, 2009,
the Moscow City Court confirmed the decision of the Tushino
District Court on abuse of authority by Kozlov. This motion
envisages retrieval of this plot amounting to 3,688 sq m,
also court rulings on other plots of the natural reserve
unlawfully given for construction of cottages have to appear
shortly.
The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO
expresses its concern in view of refusal of the Moscow authorities
to prolong contracts on the office premises rent with the
Moscow Helsinki Group and For the Human Rights Movement.
A strange coincidence of adopting such decisions
on the two most renowned human rights organisations that
rent offices in different places of the city is indicative
of political motivation of the city heads.
Thus, a new technology has been used against
civil society. Human rights organisations are simply ousted
out of the offices in the streets under invented pretexts.
The 56th Congress of the LIberal Internatioanl
convening in Cairo...
Calls on:
The Russian authorities to:
- conduct a full inspection of the complaints of the actions
(or negligence) of election commissions in all the Russian
Federation subjects, all the evidence of fraud published
by the mass media and punish all those guilty of election
fraud, as well as take urgent remedy measures, if needed,
declaring the elections void;
- observe Russia’s obligations under its membership in the
OSCE and in the Council of
Europe on ensuring free and fair elections in the country;
- form new electoral commissions ensuring that representatives
from all of Russia's political parties should have equal
participation to cast a vote;
- ensure free and equal conditions for all the political
parties and candidates, as well as maximum public control
over elections and voting.
The YABLOKO party shares President’s
call to modernization on the basis of democratic values,
however, YABLOKO does not see any signs of the real change
of the political course towards the indicated goals. Such
a statement was made by YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin.
“We welcome the President’s statement that Russia’s
modernization should be carried out on the basis of democratic
values and free development of individuals. At the same
time, the Address does not show a link between modernization
and democracy,” Mitrokhin said.
Mitrokhin also added that absence of a tough assessment
of falsifications at the regional elections on October 11
demonstrated this too well.
According to YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin, “voting
and fraud of elections of October 11 should become one of
the key topics of Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly.”
Political Committee of the Russian
United Democratic Party YABLOKO
October 9, 2009
Adopted by the Political Committee of the
Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO. Resolution No 16
of September 26, 2009.
Respected Dmitry Anatolyevich,
The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO
at meeting of its Political Committee taking place on September
26, 2009, adopted a decision to respond to your invitation
to a discussion and address you on the problems touched
upon in your article “Forward, Russia!” Our
view, as well as yours, can not claim being absolutely complete
and inarguable, however, our long-term experience make us
express our views in an explicit from, probably, partially
reiterating what we have been stating earlier.
The YABLOKO party expresses its categorical
protest in connection with provocations and acts of pressure
and mobbing of the party branches in a number of regions.
On November 8, 2009, there was a fire in
the regional branch of the United Russia party in Penza.
According to preliminary information of the interior, unknown
persons threw flame fluid in the window.
There events became a motive to political
mobbing of activists from oppositional parties and movements
by the United Russia at participation of the interior.
At night on the 8th of October unlawful
searches in the homes of YABLOKO members and allies took
place. Seven activists were victims of lawlessness. Notebooks,
party and publicistic materials, other things having no
relation to the arson were confiscated.
The YABLOKO party considers statements of
the United Russia leaders and actions of the interior, as
well as their accusations in the address of opposition parties
in extremism as persecution of the dissenting and intimidation
of politically active citizens.
On November 5, 2009, the Moscow City Court
left in force the decision of the Tushino District Court
regarding abuse of rank by the dismissed head of the North-Western
Administrative District of Moscow Viktor Kozlov, who unlawfully
granted 3,688 sq.m of land in the natural preservation zone
of the Valley of the Skhodnya River Park for lease to the
ex-top officer of the interior General Major Anatoly Petukhov.
According to the ruling of the court, the
plot of land granted on unlawful basis Petukhov has to be
retrieved. The decision is final and binding.
Statement by the Russian United
Democratic Party YABLOKO, November 4, 2009
The 4th of November is officially announced
the Day of National Unity in Russia. However, it is this
day when the streets of Russian cities turn into arena for
skin-heads, Nazis and racists provoking ethnic hatred. “Russian
Marches” conducted on permission of local authorities
and multiple unsanctioned nationalists’ actions will
take place in 16 Russian cities.
According to the analytical centre SOVA,
50 people died and 280 people were wounded due to xenophobia
since January 2009.
The YABLOKO party states that provoking
of ethnic hatred, as well as assistance in the organisation
of nationalists’ actions, is prone of very serious
consequences, including shedding of blood and disintegration
of the country.
Sergei Mitrokhin’s blog at
the Echo Moskvi web-site, November 3, 2009
The 56th Congress of the Liberal International
(LI) where I took part, finished its work on Saturday night
in Cairo.
The congress adopted basic resolution World
Today, which, in my view is a very interesting document.
It provides liberal assessment of the situation in different
countries and regions of the world.
In terms of examples:
The congress approved election of Barack
Obama noting that he had won under the slogans of “active
civil position, tolerance, dialogue, rights of individuals,
freedom and democracy”.
[The congress also noted that] Honduras
had been “going through a period of serious disturbances
provoked by the violation of its Constitution by the President
of the Republic”.
The Sixth Anti-Hatred March in memory of
Nikolai Giryenko took place in St.Petersburg
on October 31, 2009.
Representatives from the YABLOKO and the
Right Cause party, Solidarity and Oborona (Defence) movements,
Soldiers’ Mothers (St.Petersburg branch), Memorial, the
Social-Democratic Youth Union, St.Petersburg Council for
Protection of Human Rights, activists of the Vikhod (the
Way Out) organisation, anarchists and ordinary citizens
concerned by the growth of xenophobia in the society participated
in the march. The march joined together over 500 people.
The 56th congress of the Liberal International,
international organisation of liberals and liberal parties,
finished its work yesterday night.
The congress adopted basic resolution World
Today reflecting liberal assessment of situation in different
countries and regions of the world.
Assessing the situation in Russia the congress noted that
“the legislation which has extended the term of the
Russian Presidency from four to six years, going against
the basic democratic rule of governmental change and leading
to the growth of bureaucratic supremacy and corruption in
Russia”.
On the initiative of Sergei Mitrokhin,
YABLOKO’s delegate at the congress, the resolution
also expressed concern about the ongoing trend towards abolishing
of honest and fair elections, as well as curbing of human
rights in Russia”.
Today on October 29, 2009, on the eve of
the Victims of Political Reprisals Memory Day the action
Returning of the Names has started in Moscow. Moscovites
pay tribute to the victims of the Great Terror by the Solovetsky
Stone at Lubyanka Square. The participants of the rally
read out loud the lists of the killed with the names, professions
and the execution date.
YABLOKO’s leaders deputy head of the
Moscow YABLOKO Eugeni Bunimovich, members of Political Council
Grigory Yavlinsky, Viktor Sheinis, Sergei Ivanenko and Boris
Misnik, leader of the Green Russia faction and member of
the Political Committee Alexei Yablokov, members of YABLOKO’s
Bureau Valery Borschyov and Valery Goryachev, head of the
gender faction Galina Mikhalyova, leaders of the Youth YABLOKO
and party activists also participated in the action.
Statement by the Russian United
Democratic Party YABLOKO, October 28, 2009
Possible return of the death penalty to
Russia’s law enforcement practices is the urgent issue
of Russia’s political agenda today.
On April 16, 1997, Russia, within the framework
of its obligations under the European Convention on Human
Rights signed and ratified in 1996, signed Protocol 6 envisaging
abolishment of the death penalty in time of peace. Up to
now the Protocol has not been ratified by the State Duma
(Ed. Russian parliament). Also on February 2, 1999, the
Constitutional Court ruled out that the death penalty can
not be imposed by [Russia’s] courts until jury courts
in which competence lays the imposing of capital punishment
are introduced in all the regions of the Russian Federation...
The Bureau of the YABLOKO party considers
it necessary that the State Duma should urgently ratify
Protocol 6 to the European Convention for the Protection
of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms concerning the
abolition of the death penalty.
Statement by the Russian United
Democratic Party YABLOKO, October 27, 2009
The YABLOKO party calls to stop criminal
persecutions against Oleg Orlov, head of the Memorial human
rights centre, that was launched on the complaint of President
of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov. We presume that there are no
grounds for opening of a criminal case against Oleg Orlov.
On the opposite, we assess some of the statements
made by Ramzan Kadyrov as open pressure on the human rights
organisation and a threat against its representatives: President
of Chechnya called Memorial an organisation “created
for disruption of Russia”, as well as stated that
he did not consider Memorial’s staff being patriots
of Russia and he even loathed talking to them.
The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO
expresses its moral support to Oleg Orlov.
Here comes information from the polling
stations where Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin and [Mayor
of Moscow] Yuri Luzhkov voted:
United Russia — 36,7%; CPRF —28,4%;
YABLOKO — 14,9%; Just Russia —
9,2%; LDPR — 6%
What the electoral commissions shall do
now?! Internet is full of gags and jokes and this is the
evidence of the mental health of the nation. However, jokes
end sooner of later. In the end Russia’s future is
in stake. The stage of a saving sense of humour will end
in a year or two. Then the people will either oust the bosses
who lost their honour or vise versa this team will drive
the people to a “stall”. The latter is more
likely: such people never give up power voluntary, moreover
with such a load of unlawful acts on their back...
From Chairman of the YABLOKO party
October 26, 2009 The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO congratulates
Ludmila Alexeyeva, Sergei Kovalyov and Oleg Orlov on receiving
the Sakharov prize.
It is hard to find more deserving people
for this prize. Your names, as well as the names Memorial
and the Moscow Helsinki Group have already become symbols
associated with fight for human rights, protection of human
dignity, for the country respecting its citizens and respected
by the citizens.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Moscow-based NGO
Memorial has walked away with the EU's 2009 Sakharov prize
for freedom of thought after a bloody year for human rights
activists in Russia.
"We hope to contribute to ending the
circle of fear and violence surrounding human rights defenders
in the Russian Federation," European Parliament President
Jerzy Buzek said while announcing the decision on Thursday
(22 October).
The Pole and former anti-Communist campaigner
added that he felt "personal satisfaction" over
the award as "a man who comes from Solidarity and who
saw Poland fighting for truth and freedom, which it finally
won in the 1980s."
Three Memorial staff, Oleg Orlov, Sergei
Kovalev and Lyudmila Alexeyeva, will be invited to collect
the prize, which comes with a ˆ50,000 cheque, at the EU
parliament on 16 December.
By Sergei Mitrokhin
Sergei Mitrokhin, who served as a State Duma deputy from
1994 to 2003 and a Moscow City Duma deputy from 2005 to
2009, is chairman of the Yabloko party.
The level of falsifications in the Oct.
11 Moscow City Duma elections was unprecedented in modern
Russian history. Officials did everything in their power
to prevent opposition candidates from registering, and Yabloko
was obstructed by local authorities and siloviki structures
as early on as the signature collection stage.
On Oct. 10, the eve of the elections, almost
every electoral district had run out of ballots. According
to Yabloko representatives, the Strogino election committee
handed out a total of only 149 ballots for the entire district.
Instead, we witnessed the so-called “carousel”
system busloads of passengers who travel from district
to district to cast their votes repeatedly.
Statement of the Bureau of the Russian
United Democratic Party YABLOKO, October 19, 2009
Adopted by the party Bureau on October 17,
2009
An obvious fraud of the results of the voting
on October 11, 2009, showed to the Russian society and the
entire world that the institute of democratic elections
was virtually demolished in Russia.
Instead of lawful elections the country
saw that the law was defeated by a group of persons who
used their administrative and political resource for illegitimate
seizure of power.
Total administrative pressure and mass-scale
fraud probed and developed during previous election cycles
reached unprecedented scope. Violations in Moscow, the Moscow
region, Astrakhan and Derbent were particularly mass-scale,
open and cynical.
It was the first time that electoral commissions
refused to register parties and candidates in the election
race, thus restricting the choice for the citizens under
insignificant and often completely unlawful cavil. For the
first time the capacity of state law-enforcement agencies
was used during collection of signatures and campaigning
for pressing candidates and observers, moreover representatives
of these agencies directly participated in the fraud.
Observers from different political parties
at the elections registered about 20 types of grave systematic
and mass-scale violations testifying of an overall election
fraud.
None of the figures on the votes given for
any of the political parties participating in the elections
of October 11, 2009, can be recognized as trustworthy.
The protocol of voting of local electoral
commission No 192 of Khamovniki district, Moscow, showed
that the electorate did not give a single vote for YABLOKO
at the polling station where Sergei Mitrokhin and his family
voted. Moreover, the commission reported on the absence
of any invalid or spoilt bulletins.
The electoral commission of the polling
station gave the breakdown of the total of 1,020 bulletins
as follows: United Russia obtained 904 votes, CPRF –
87 votes and Just Russia – 29 votes. In accordance
with the protocol, LDPR, Patriots of Russia and YABLOKO
did not get a single vote (see a scanned copy of the protocol
at our web-site). These data were also registered at the
Moscow Electoral Commission web-site.
The signed copy of the protocol which was
made available to YABLOKO was printed specially for electronic
polling boxes, however, Sergei Mitrokhin and his family
put their ballots into a wooden box (see the photograph
at our web-site).
“Maybe the heads of this electoral
commission intend to show that I do not exist either as
a voter or as a citizen,” Sergei Mitrokhin commented
on the situation. “I have to disappoint them, YABLOKO
does exist and moreover is able to turn to the law-enforcement
bodies for punishment of the criminals faking the elections,”
he said.
Sergei Mitrokhin also noted that YABLOKO
received 18% at the polling station where Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin voted. “Naturally, no one dared to
falsify anything there, however, these two Moscow districts
hardly differ as of the structure of their electorate,”
Mitrokhin added.
Resolution by the Political Committee
of the YABLOKO party. October 6, 2009
The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO
expresses its deep concern in view of the new aggravation
of the situation around Iran’s nuclear problem.
A secret construction of the second Iran’s uranium
enrichment plant, which the world public has learned about,
shows that Teheran continues its course towards challenging
the UN, as well as regional and global security. New tests
of ballistic missiles, including medium-range Shahab-3,
have shifted the crisis into a dangerous phase...
Iran’s procession of nuclear weapons
presents considerable threats for the national interests
of Russia, the USA, the EU countries and the entire civilised
world. Russia can not allow being turned into a target of
nuclear blackmail from another neighbouring state...
The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO
thinks that it is high time for Russia to take a principled
position, stop lulling itself about Iran’s intentions,
as well as break Iran’s tactics of playing on discrepancies
between the great superpowers and using Russia in its own
interests contradicting to the international security goals...
Leader of the YABLOKO party Sergei Mitrokhin
has summed up the results of the Moscow City Duma election
in his blog at the Echo Moskvi radio station web-site.
“Proceeding from a number of direct
and indirect data, we can say that YABLOKO obtained about
12% of the votes. Fraud bit almost two thirds of our votes,”
Mitrokhin writes.
Answering the question “who is to
blame for the fraud” YABLOKO’s leader singles
out three groups: “the passive protesting majority
allowing the authorities to persuade them that ‘everything
has been already decided for us’”; propagandists
of the elections boycott called ‘a media-Solidarity
batch’ by Mitrokhin; and the authorities.
“Our ultra-radicals are even unable
to understand that they are helping the authorities to avoid
anything resembling an ‘orange revolution’”.
As only those who participated in the election go into the
streets to protesting against a deceit,” Mitrokhin
says.
According to Mitrokhin, YABLOKO will take another way. “If
100% of the citizens come to the elections, they will inevitably
sweep away the ballot-riggers either at the election or
at the Red Square after the fraud”, runs the blog.
Electoral district No 1702, Danilovsky district,
Moscow,
All who has seen election campaigns of the
recent years mark an unbelievable scope of fraud at yesterday’s
election (Moscow City Duma election on October 11, 2009).
Here comes only one example of election
fraud...
United Russia simply “got” 550
additional votes from nowhere. 550 is a beautiful figure.
See the screenshots of the protocols below.
The first screenshot represents the protocol of the Moscow
Electoral Commission.
The second screenshot is the protocol obtained
by the observer.
ELDR, European Liberal Democrats,
October 12, 2009
... The BBC and other international media
outlets reported about the concern that such violations
of democratic principles happened also elsewhere across
Russia.
ELDR supports the strong commitment of its
democratic member parties Yabloko and the People’s
Democratic Union in their strenuous resistance in defense
of transparency and democracy in Russia.
ELDR commits itself for raising European awareness around
the democratic character of elections in Russia in general,
and in particular in the Moscow city Duma elections in order
to examine closer the position of the Russian observers
and the unclear results.
At the ELDR Congress in Barcelona on 19
and 20 November, European Liberal Democrats will discuss
a resolution on the topic of citizen’s access to the
electoral system in Russia.
The Moscow Duma elections saw multiple violations
despite the reports of the Moscow Electoral Commission that
“no grave violations” were registered during
this election.
Thus, on the threashold of the election
day, the Moscow Electoral Commission had suddenly “run
out of absentee voting certificates”. This situation
was observed in Otradnoye, Basmanniy, Beskudnikovo, Strogino,
Northern Tushino.
On the election day, October 11, observers
from the YABLOKO party were not allowed to implement their
function. Thus, YABLOKO’s activist Semyon Burd was
deported from voting station No 118 (Presnya) by force.
The local electoral commission gave Burd its decision prohibiting
him to observe the counting of votes. Such a decision was
adopted in violation of the Election Code. In Meschansky
district YABLOKO’s observers were deported from the
voting station under a pretext that the stamps on their
documents did not overlap Sergei Mitrokhin’s signature.
An hour before expiration of the time of
voting (from 7 to 8 p.m.)YABLOKO received a storm of telephone
calls from the worried voters. The voters coming to the
voting stations between 7 and 8p.m. found out that “someone”
had already voted on their behalf.
Also coaches full of “voters”
(the so-called merry-go-round) were commuting from one electoral
district to another. The same “passengers” of
such coachers voted at several districts several times.
Such coaches were observed at Begovaya, Mariyna Roscha,
Northern Medvedkovo, Arbat, Presnya and some other districts...
Grigory Yavlinsky’s interview
to the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, October 8, 2009
Grigory Yavlinsky has been keeping silent
for 18 months. He neither gave interviews, nor made prognoses
and assessments, however, he did not leave politics. Political
scientists and journalists forecasted top posts for him
and speculated about his contacts with President Medvedev,
discussed prospects of his return to the post of YABLOKO’s
leader. But he kept silent.Today MK publishes his first
after a long period interview with Grigory Yavlinsky.
MK: A month and a half ago you met with
President Medvedev. What were you talking about?
Yavlinsky: We discussed political problems,
the economic crisis and the danger of social protests.
MK: And the President invited you so that
to discuss their probability?
Yavlinsky: I began the discussion of the
protests, as I think this very important. However, I think
that the protest will not take shape of mass-scale actions.
Now we may face disturbances at the VAZ [automobile] plant,
but this is a special story. In fact people in Russia do
not protest when they are in dire straits. This takes a
different form in our country. Our protest is criminalization
of behavioral patterns of the population on a mass-scale
level. People do not hope to influence the authorities,
and therefore they try to solve their problems as they can
– in criminal ways.
MK: And what was President’s reaction
in face of such prospects?
A
rally in memory of Anna Politkovskaya, journalist of the
oppositional Novaya Gazeta newspaper, gathered about 300
people in Moscow on October 7.
Dmitry Muratov, Editor-in Chief of Novaya
Gazeta, told that Muscovites brought many flowers, books,
messages to Anna’s tomb. He also paid tribute to the
memory of journalists and human rights activists murdered
in the past years, as well as those suffering persecutions
from the authorities. “I am absolutely sure, that
there will come time, when a monument to Natasha Estemirova
will be erected in the centre of Grozny, and a monument
to Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow,” he said.
Ludmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki
Group, thanked all who came to the rally to express their
tribute to Anna. “As the killers were not found and
were not even condemned by those people who are in power
now, it is we who condemn them,” she said.
A meeting of YABLOKO’s Political Committee
took place on September 26. The Committee developed the
goals of the party in modern Russia.
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
indicated in his report to the Committee that a system of
bureaucratic cronyism developed in modern Russia. Its goal
is to maintain in power one and the same ruling group for
an unlimited period of time.
“Supporting a number of President
Medvedev’s recent statements on the need of modernisation
in Russia YABLOKO states that their realisation is incompatible
with the real goals of this system,” Mitrokhin said.
Mitrokhin expressed his certainty that this
system “can lead Russia to stagnation reminiscent
of the stagnation of the Brezhnev period in the USSR, when
the political elite lost the chance to conduct modernisation
of the USSR, thus dooming it to disintegration”.
According to Mitrokhin, the task of the
opposition is to offer an alternative to the political course
of the country present leaders, such as building of a modern
state based on democratic institutes and procedures.
Grigory Yavlinsky’s interview
to the Radio Liberty
www.svobodanews.ru
September 22, 2009
Radio Liberty: Many Russian politicians
are enthusiastic about Barack Obama abolishing the plans
of deployment of the elements of the American ABM system
in Central Europe. Do you share such feelings?
Grigory Yavlinsky: No, I don’t, as
these missiles and the decision of deployment of the ABM
system adopted by President Bush did not threaten Russia
in any way. It had a symbolic meaning. What Barack Obama
did, was done because he was amending an error made by george
Bush, rather than yielding to Russia, as President Bush’
decision was absolutely inefficient - technically, economically
and strategically. He had enough courage to shelve the erroneous
plan created by George Bush.
R.L: How do you assess the reaction of the
Russian politicians who are speaking about this as of a
large diplomatic victory of Moscow then?
G.Y.: As immature, it stirs pity. Such a
reaction can not serve as a basis for further development
of reasonable, earnest, and, if we further elaborate on
this thought, grownup relationships with the developed countries.
In general this is a trade-in approach – if you give
something to me, then I give something to you, if you take
away your missiles, we shall help you or will not help you
somewhere in Iran – such an approach to the world
politics is extremely primitive. Such approaches proved
leading to deadlocks and inefficient, but, unfortunately
they have been widely spread not only in Russia, but in
the West too...
Statement by Chairman of the Russian
United Democratic Party YABLOKO, September 21, 2009
The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO
considers that urgent conclusion of multi-lateral agreements
on creation of an anti-ballistic missile defence (ABM) system
for Europe jointly with the USA, NATO and the European Union
is a challenging and strategically important task for Russia.
Implementation of this project is of global
significance. At the expected rates of nuclear missile proliferation,
the number of potential threats of missile attacks against
Russia, the US, Europe and any country of the world will
only broaden. A joint ABM system of the technologically
developed states and Russia as a country with one of the
largest nuclear missile potentials will become the most
important element for protection of the planet from nuclear
threats in the 21st century. For Europe creation of ballistic
missile defence (BMD) jointly with Russia will represent
the first large step towards creation of such a system and
will be also important for raising the efficiency of nuclear
non-proliferation policy.
Sergei Mitrokhin’s blog at
the Echo Moskvi web-site,
September 18, 2009
Yesterday I made a speech at the State Duma
hearings devoted to the problems of city building. The main
idea of my speech was as follows: the notorious “vertical
of power” is the main source of corruption today.
The modern state President Medvedev is dreaming
about does not imply only the vertical of the executive
power, it should also imply horizontal of control over the
executive by the legislative and the judicial power.
When such a horizontal is lacking, we have
an archaic and weak state, or a corrupt state, to put it
shortly, instead of a modern and strong state. I told this
to Dmitry Medvedev during our meeting on June 11.
The term “modern state” shifted
from that discussion to the topic of the conference in Yaroslavl.
The term shifted, however, the mechanisms of democratic
governing I was speaking about did not.
The
Supreme Court did not let YABLOKO to participate in the
election campaign in the Sverdlovsk Region
Officials
offer apology to YABLOKO’s ecologist
An
Objective View of the START-1 treaty
Portraits
of Stalin and the Anniversary Victory Day
Liberal
International. Newsletter. Issue 173
Grigory
Yavlinsky visited the Astrakhan Region
Sergei
Kovalyov has turned 80!
Conference
“Women’s Movement in Russia: Yesterday, Today
and Tomorrow” took place in YABLOKO’s Moscow
office
Non-registration
of YABLOKO in the regional elections: a hypocrisy or a weakness
of the presidential power?
YABLOKO
protests against sending schoolchildren to the barracks
Picketing
in Ufa: “Decent Pensions to the Military Pensioners!”
Picket
against discrimination of military pensioners in Blagoveschensk
Regional
Court did not let YABLOKO to participate in the election
campaign to the Sverdlovsk Region parliament
Kaluga
Region Court turns down YABLOKO’s claim regarding
registration of the party in the election campaign
YABLOKO’s
action in protection of Utrish and Baikal
20
years ago the citizens of Saratov struggled for freedom
and decent life 
The
market economy – a model for Europe 
YABLOKO’s
leader supports the head of Russia’s Foreign Affairs
Ministry
YABLOKO
urges European liberals to work out a new EU strategy for
Russia 
YABLOKO
insists that the Chair of the Investigative Committee at
the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation
should take under control investigation of a killing of
civilians in Ingushetia
One
more provocation against Maxim Reznik, leader of St.Petersburg
branch of YABLOKO
Boris
Vishnevsky receives Russia’s Golden Pen award
The
leader of Gelendzhik YABLOKO is forced to quit his job because
of a rally
Northern
Irish Liberals tipped for government
Congratulations
to Arseny Roginsky on the award!
Forward
looking approach essential for reform in Russia
On
elimination of visa regime between Russia and the EU
Memorial’s
lectures in YABLOKO. The History of the Soviet Terror
The
authorities chose to support of oligarchs’ interests
and reprisals against public organisations rather than protection
of the Lake Baikal
Governor
Gromov motions a libel suit against Sergei Mitrokhin
Social
orphanage Zhizn (Life) in St.Petersburg needs your support!
Assessment
of Russia’s Present Political System and the Principles
of Its Development.
Brief
Outline of Sergei Mitrokhin’s Report at the State
Council meeting
Overcoming
the Totalitarian Past: Foreign Experience and Russian Problems
by Galina Mikhaleva.
Picketing
in favour of Rechnik took place by the building of the Russian
Government
The
staff of the Government of the Moscow Region interferes
with YABLOKO’s picketing
Ekaterinburg’s
Mayor suits the leader of the regional YABLOKO branch
The
Charter Court of St.Petersburg refused to examine the Okhta-Centre
case
Activists
and leaders of the YABLOKO party participate in the action
in memory of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasiya Baburova
in Moscow
Attitude
to human rights activists as a criterion of a law governed
state
Russia’s
Borders as a Communist Crime
The
residents of the city of Klin and YABLOKO picket by the
office of the Public prosecutor of the Moscow Region
Sergei
Kovalev addresses the European Parliament after accepting
the Sakharov Prize. Strasbourg, 16 December 2009
The
murderers of Farid Babayev, the leader of the Dagestan branch
of YABLOKO, can be released
YABLOKO’s
Congress proposes an alternative
Propaganda
of Stalinism should be prohibited
Deputy
head of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO Eugeni Bunimovich becomes
Ombudsman for Children in Moscow
Public
Prosecutor to investigate the case of young YABLOKO’s activist
expelled from the university
Russian
human rights activists get Andrei Sakharov Prize
YABLOKO
participated in a rally under the slogan “United Russia
Must Leave!”
Grigory
Yavlinsky met with the students of the Evening Party University
Human
rights activists Natalya Estemirova and Maksharip Aushev
awarded medals post mortem
Court
rules out that a thousand of additional votes stuffed in
for progovernmental United Russia is not a satisfactory
motive for recount of the votes
Environmentally
unfriendly bulbs versus nuclear power stations?
Three
members of the YABLOKO party are elected co-chairmen of
the human rights organisation
Youth
YABLOKO pickets Public Prosecutor General's office demanding
to release YABLOKO’s activist
On
political persecution of human rights organisations in Moscow
YABLOKO
assesses President’s Address to the Federal Assembly
as controversial
Address
of the YABLOKO party to President of the Russian Federation
Dmitry Medvedev
On
provocation of the United Russia against YABLOKO’s
activists
Liberals
discussed the world
The
Sixth Anti-Hatred March took place in St.Petersburg
Moscow
pays tribute to the victims of political reprisals
Five
parties should have got places in the Moscow City Duma!
The real election results.
EU
prize highlights Russia murders of rights workers
Violations
at the Moscow City Duma elections
Grigory
Yavlinsky: Vote for the people you know, people you can
turn for help
A
rally in memory of Anna Politkovskaya, journalist of the
oppositional Novaya Gazeta newspaper, gathered about 300
people in Moscow on October 7. 
Grigory
Yavlinsky: no discords in the tandem
On
the need of further steps for creation of a joint Russian-European
ABM system
