Press Release, 10.02.2021

In the photo: Marina Zheleznyakova / Photo from the personal page on Facebook

Yabloko Party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov sent an official letter to Roman Panteleyev, Public Prosecutor of the Maritime Territory, demanding to stop the persecution of party members in Vladivostok – Marina Zheleznyakova, Chair of the Maritime Territory regional branch of the Yabloko Party, and party member Maxim Khozyaykin.

In the early morning of February 6, 2021, police officers with weapons broke into the apartments of two party members. They unreasonably and disproportionately used brute force and beat family members during conducting searches. Police officers tried to find information carriers that would contain photos or videos of peaceful rallies. Neither Zheleznyakova nor Khozyaikin offered resistance to the police officers. On the contrary, both Yabloko members provided access to all premises. But even in spite of this, both our party members and their family members were subjected to violence and humiliation: the police broke the head of Zheleznyakova’s husband, and police officers rummaged in the underwear in the bedroom of Khozyakin’s minor daughter. After a search of Khozyakin’s apartment, which was accompanied by constant use of force and psychological pressure, the activist was taken to the police station for interrogation.

The searches were authorised by the court solely on the unconfirmed statement of a police officer that Zheleznyakova and Khozyaykin allegedly took active part in the protest actions and took photographs and videos. According to this logic, today the authorities can conduct searches of almost every citizen who has photos and videos from peaceful actions. According to Article 182 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the basis for conducting a search is the availability of sufficient data to believe that there may be objects, documents and valuables that may be of importance for a criminal case. Only a possibility of the presence of such records can not be the basis for a search. This means that permits to conduct searches and the searches were unlawful.

“We perceive everything that is happening now in relation to our colleagues as nothing else but political persecution and political repression of the democratic party Yabloko, its members and supporters. The actions of law enforcement agencies are aimed at intimidation and deprivation of constitutional rights and freedoms,” Nikolai Rybakov noted.

The Yabloko party demands from the Public Prosecutor of the Maritime Territory to challenge the rulings of the Pervorechensky District Court which allowed searches in the apartments of Zheleznyakova and Khozyaykin. It is necessary to identify and punish the police officers guilty of using unjustified violence and humiliation of human dignity during the searches, as well as to stop any persecution of Marina Zheleznyakova and Maxim Khozyaykin.