Press Release, 24.08.2022

Photo by Alexander Meridonov / Kommersant

Police detained Yabloko candidates for municipal deputies Anna Shatunovskaya-Byurno (Yakimanka municipal district of Moscow), Nikolai Kasyan (Khamovniki), and Tatyana Kasimova (Khamovniki), and Yabloko supporter Maria Volokh, who had been nominated to run in the Tverskoy municipal district of Moscow and had previously been withdrawn from the elections.

According to preliminary information, the candidates are charged with Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (“Propaganda or public demonstration of Nazi symbols of signs, or symbols or signs of extremist organisations”), which entails a ban on participation in elections for a year.

Maria Volokh was detained immediately after the end of the hearing in the Tverskoy District Court, which considered her claim against the Territorial Electoral Commission of the Tverskoy District. Earlier, the Territorial Electoral Commission withdrew Maria Volokh from the municipal elections, allegedly because she had a residence permit in the Netherlands, without providing any evidence. The court dismissed Volokh’s claim.

Andrei Morev, head of the Yakimanka district nominated by Yabloko to run in Yakimanka and Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Yabloko, human rights activist Nikolai Kavkazsky nominated by Yabloko to run in Basmanny, and acting Moscow municipal deputies Nodari Khananashvili (Academicheskiy) and Pavel Yarilin (Aeroport) were found guilty under the same article and lost the opportunity to participate in the elections.

UPD. Police has detained Tatyana Kasimova, head of the Khamovniki Municipal Council and a candidate for the municipal elections from Yabloko.

Read more about the persecution of Yabloko members after the start of the “special operation”.