Press Release, 05.07.2022

Photo: Alexei Manannikov / Photo from social media

The Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Novosibirsk found Alexei Manannikov, a member of the Yabloko party, a former People’s Deputy of the RSFSR (1990-1993) and a former member of the Federation Council (1993-1995), guilty of “discrediting the army” and fined him 30,000 roubles for an anti-war post posted on the social network VKontakte on 31 March, 2022. Manannikov’s personal page on the VKontakte social media was blocked by the decision of the Public Prosecutor General’s Office of 19 April, 2022.

Alexei Manannikov, who has been living abroad for the past few years, said that the court’s decision was symbolic for him: in the USSR, 40 years ago, at the end of June 1982, the Moscow City Court sentenced him for “disseminating deliberately false fabrications discrediting the Soviet state and social system”. Then Manannikov was arrested and sentenced to three years for speaking in support of the Polish association of independent trade unions Solidarity and criticising the suppression of the labour movement by the state.

Administrative protocols on “discrediting the armed forces” were drawn up against 16 Yabloko members. The party announced a collection of donations to pay fines for those who are not silent.

Read more (https://www.yabloko.ru/war-against-yabloko) about the persecution of Yabloko members after the start of the “special operation”.