Press Release, 23.09.2022

Photo (from left to right): lawyer Andrei Chertkov, Judge Artyom Brodsky, lawyer Leonid Krikun and Alexander Shishlov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

On 23 September, the Petrogradsky District Court of St.Petersburg continued consideration of the administrative case against Alexander Shishlov, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, under Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (“discrediting the Russian Armed Forces”). The court postponed the consideration of the case until it could receive the results of the examination, which has been carried out by the North-Western Regional Centre for Expertise of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.

The hearings are scheduled in the Petrogradsky District Court on 7 October at 11:30.

It should be noted that the police saw the offense in the publications of MP Alexander Shishlov in the VKontakte social media, where he talked about his activities in the Legislative Assembly. Alexander Shishlov previously stated that he did not agree with the charges brought against him, and the conclusions of the expert – V.A. Abakanova, Associate Professor of the Russian State Pedagogical University, – on which the administrative protocol had been based. Shishlov said that the accusations were absurd.

Also After Alexander Shishlov was accused of “discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”, he began getting threats and insults and had to appeal to the Public Prosecutor of St.Petersburg and ask him to take the measures of prosecutor’s response aimed at preventing violations of the law in relation to a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg.

At the first meeting, which took place on 19 August, the court granted the defence’s petition and did not recognise the results of the “expertise” by Abakanova as evidence and appointed a new expertise. The ruling of the court stated that the court could not recognized “the document presented in the case file, referred to as the expert’s opinion” as admissible evidence, both on formal and factual grounds.

During the meeting on 2 September, the defenders of Alexander Shishlov – lawyers Leonid Krikun and Andrey Chertkov – filed several motions, one of which concerned the constitutionality of the new article (Article 20.3.3) of the Code of Administrative Offenses (“discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation”). In the petition, the defense asked Judge Artyom Brodsky to send an appeal to the Constitutional Court with a request to assess the compliance of Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses with the articles of the Constitution, which guarantee citizens freedom of speech and freedom of information (Article 13 and Article 29). The court denied the motion.

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