St.Petersburg State University decided not to expel 20 students detained at peaceful anti-war actions. Earlier, the Yabloko faction had spoken up in their defenсe.
Press Release, 5.04.2022
Photo by Creative Commons
The St.Petersburg newspaper Fontanka reported that following the results of the meeting of the Rector and the staff at St Petersburg University, they decided not to expel 20 students who were detained at peaceful anti-war actions. Now the University plans only to administer reprimands to the students.
On 11 March, deputies of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg from Yabloko – Alexander Shishlov and Boris Vishnevsky – appealed to Viktor Melnik, Public Prosecutor of St. Petersburg, and Nikolai Kropachev, Rector of St. Petersburg State University, and called them to prevent unlawful expulsion of the students from St. Petersburg State University.
Yabloko deputies also called to end the practices of a gross violation of the principle of the presumption of innocence – the police notifying the heads of the university about the detention of the students before the decision on the administrative case against them could enter into force.
“The intention to expel students is unlawful, as well the intentions to punish them [the students] in any way for being detained and fined: the university can only punish for violations of what concerns the educational process,” Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party Boris Vishnevsky stressed.
“I admit that our appeals and high-profile publicity, as well as dubious prospects in court if the expelled students apply to court, persuaded the heads of St Petersburg University to not expel the students. Anyway, it is good. However, the matter was [they were going to expel] twice as many students – about 40. We are waiting for information on the rest,” Boris Vishnevsky added.
In early March, the Yabloko faction of St.Petersburg parliament learned that several students who had taken part in the protests had to be expelled from the University allegedly for violating the Statute of St. Petersburg State University and the University’s internal regulations, even before their administrative cases were examined by the court.
BORIS VISHNEVSKY
is Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko Party, member of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee and Bureau, and an MP of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg
ALEXANDER SHISHLOV
is head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg
Posted: April 5th, 2022 under Foreign policy, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Russia-Ukraine relations, YABLOKO's faction in St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly, Yabloko's Regional Branches, Без рубрики.