Press Release, 2.09.2022

Photo: Maria Volokh / Photo from social media

On 1 September, the Moscow City Court upheld the decision of the Tverskoy District Court to remove Maria Volokh, a candidate for Moscow municipal deputies from Yabloko, from the elections. Earlier, District Judge sided with the Territorial Electoral Commission of the Tverskoy District in Moscow, which canceled Volokh’s registration because she allegedly had had a residence permit in the Netherlands valid until 2019.

In addition, on 25 August, Maria Volokh was fined under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (“demonstration of extremist symbols”), which deprived a civil activist of the right to be a candidate in elections for a year.

On 17 August, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow fined Maria Volokh in the amount of 60,000 roubles under Articles 20.2 (“violation of the rules for holding public events”) and 20.3.3 (“discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”) of the Administrative Code for an action against censorship and repression, when Maria Volokh and another Yabloko candidate Sergei Smirnov had marched through the centre of Moscow with their mouths sealed with a tape and holding a poster with eight asterisks instead of “forbidden” words.

A total of 12 candidates in the municipal elections in Moscow, nominated by the Yabloko party, have lost or may lose the right to participate in the elections. The formal reason for the removal is accusations of involvement in the activities of an “extremist organization” or the “demonstration of extremist symbols” (in all the cases the authorities qualified headquarters of Alexei Navalny and his Smart Voting project as “extremist”). Evidence of the “guilt” of some candidates was completely falsified.

The municipal campaign of the Yabloko party is held under the slogan “For Peace and Freedom!”.

Moscow municipal elections will be held on 11 September.

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