Press Release, 9.07.2020

Members and supporters of the Tomsk regional branch of the Yabloko party are summoned to the police, where they have to give explanations about a group photo in which activists are pictured with leaflets “I am for the Constitution without nullification and amendments”.

Activists of the party’s regional branch note that on June 28, party activists gathered to receive informational materials for posting around the city as part of Yabloko’s campaign Speak Up Against the Reset of the Presidential Terms. Then a general photo was taken and this picture was posted by the Tomsk branch of Yabloko on the social networks.

On July 6, one of the activists present in the photo received a call from the police and was politely invited to come for a “conversation”. The next day, another person received a written summons at his workplace. The third volunteer, not even present in the photo, was given the summons through her mother, the fourth was handed in at the entrance of her grandmother’s house.

According to the Tomsk Yabloko, “At the moment, two people have already spent a total of more than five hours in this police department, giving explanations to Major Zubkov regarding an ordinary photo, two more have to do the same. Considering the previous experience of in Tomsk, there is practically no doubt that all this is done for the sole purpose of identifying an alleged “organiser”, collect materials and send them to the court”.

The Yabloko party conducted a nation-wide campaign against the “reset” of the presidential terms of Vladimir Putin. Yabloko activists faced pressure on behalf of the law enforcement during campaigning.

Police arrested for eight days Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Chairman of the Yabloko branch in Yakutia, after a single picket (such pickets do not require any permissions from the authorities) against constitutional amendments allowing Vladimir Putin to remain on the post of President of Russia until 2036.

In addition, the court in Yeysk, the Krasnodar Territory, arrested for ten days Alexander Korovainy, Yabloko’s municipal deputy of the Council of the Municipal Formation of the Yeysk District, for “disobeying the police”. Alexander was arrested after a rally against Vladimir Putin’s amendments to the Constitution. Yabloko considers the arrest of Korovainy a political revenge on the part of the leadership of Yeysk and the Krasnodar Territory and demands his immediate release.

In Astrakhan police seized Yabloko leaflets against the reset of Vladimir Putin’s presidential terms from the car of Dmitry Anufriyev, Chairman of the Astrakhan branch of Yabloko and Deputy of the Regional Duma, who was taking the leaflets to the Yabloko office. Anufriyev is facing administrative responsibility.

On June 26, police detained Ronald Ayrapetyan, member of the Yabloko party, during his single picket in Kislovodsk with a placard against changing the Constitution and “resetting” the presidential terms. Later Ayrapetyan recieved threats from unidentified persons.