Press Release, 29.07.2022

Photo: Alexander Shishlov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Today, the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Petrogradsky District of St.Petersburg filed a protocol on an administrative offense against Alexander Shishlov, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg and a member of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party, under Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the RF (“public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces”).

The police believe that Alexander Shishlov was “discredited the army” by making a post on the VKontakte social media about what was happening in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg:

“Today, the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg led a minute of silence in connection with the death of the leader of the LDPR party Vladimir Zhirinovsky… Just yesterday, two more servicemen who died in Ukraine were buried in St. Petersburg… I believe that the initiative to honour the memory of the politician who for many years incited hatred and aggression, pushed for war, is hypocritical and out of place in the Petersburg parliament.”

“Now the meaning of the St. George ribbon has changed. When it is folded to make the letter Z – does not this defile the national symbol and discredit it? I believe that giving the state status to the St. George ribbon is inappropriate today. This can lead to new conflicts in society and new criminal cases against the dissenting.”

The protocol on an administrative offense was drawn up against Alexander Shishlov on the basis of an expert opinion made at the request of the St. Petersburg Public Prosecutor’s Office. Expert V.A. Abakanova (Associate Professor of the Department of Criminal Procedure of the Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University) stated that “there is observed the author’s intention to publicly discredit the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and destabilise the situation in the country”.

Alexander Shishlov stated that he did not agree with the charges brought against him, and considered the conclusions of the expert to be absurd.

“It is sad to see how a representative of a respected university tries to fit in with the language of the recently adopted “laws on fakes and discrediting” restricting the constitutional rights to freedom of speech and information, and when the police, who by law should be a law enforcement agency, are increasingly forced to solve political tasks of intimidation and persecution of dissidents,” Alexander Shishlov said.

“Certainly, this is a political persecution associated with Yabloko’s stance in support of peace and Alexander Shishlov’s speeches, in which he has been consistently voicing this position. It should be noted that people who advocate peace and disagree with the position of the authorities on what is happening in Ukraine are immediately held accountable. However, the perpetrators of the attack on the journalist and press officer of our faction [in the St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly] Pyotr Ivanov have allegedly not been found for several months. It looks like they don’t even look for them,” Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of Yabloko, noted.

Vishnevsky stressed that Yabloko will, by all legal means, defend Alexander Shishlov and other members and supporters of the Yabloko party prosecuted under articles on “discrediting” and “fakes”. At the same time, the federal law “On the General Principles of Organisation of Public Power in the Subjects of the Russian Federation” (Article 18) expressly prohibits bringing a deputy to criminal or administrative liability for an opinion expressed, a position expressed during voting, and other actions corresponding to the status of a deputy.

The case will be considered by the Petrogradsky District Court of St.Petersburg. This is the first time that Yabloko MPs deputies at the regional parliaments are accused of “discrediting the army”.

It should be noted that as of today, 28 administrative protocols under the article on “discrediting the army” were drawn up against 20 Yabloko members and supporters, including Lev Shlosberg, a member of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee and leader of the Pskov branch of  Yabloko, and municipal deputies Nikolai Kuzmin, Andrei Morev and Nodari Khananashvily.

Yabloko members Mikhail Afanasyev (Khakassia) and Vladimir Yefimov (Kamchatka) were prosecuted under the article on fakes about the army.

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

ALEXANDER SHISHLOV

is head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, and a member of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party