Press Release, 25.03.2021

Photo: Boris Vishnevsky / Photo by Olga Gryaznova

Boris Vishnevsky, head of the Yabloko faction in the St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly and Deputy Chairman of Yabloko, urged Governor Beglov to increase the number of zones (the so-called “Hyde Parks”) in the centre of St. Petersburg where no permissions are required for rallies.

Boris Vishnevsky proposed to amend the relevant decree of the government of St. Petersburg (No. 1363) and return Lenin Square to the list of specially designated places for public events in the city centre, as well as grant this status to four more sites.

“The consistent withdrawal of specially designated places from the centre of St. Petersburg, coupled with the policies of permissions for rallies, in which events outside such places are not actually permitted by the Committee on Legality, Law Enforcement and Security, constitutes an arbitrary spatial and territorial restriction of the freedom of peaceful assembly, and it is made in the part of the city that fully meets the nature of this constitutional freedom: in this site the participants have more opportunities to be heard, it is convenient to get together there and the participants can safely and quickly leave the venue of the event upon completion,” Vishnevsky said.

Boris Vishnevsky also emphasised that, according to the ruling of the Constitutional Court of Russia, the exercise by the Russian regions of powers on additional legislative definition of places where assemblies, rallies, processions and demonstrations are prohibited, implies the possibility of establishing such places solely on the basis of taking into account objective regional characteristics and conditions that are not reflected in federal laws, and implies the inadmissibility of arbitrary spatial and territorial restrictions on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.

It should be noted that after the adoption of the law of St. Petersburg No. 161-35 dated March 25, 2020, the number of specially designated places for holding public events has significantly decreased in St.Petersburg, which significantly limits the possibilities of holding such events in the city in the order that can satisfy the government of St. Petersburg and law enforcement agencies.