Press Release, 7.10.2022

Photo: lawyer Leonid Krikun and Alexander Shishlov / Photo by Konstantin Lenkov, Zaks.ru

“I regard today’s decision as legally unfounded, unlawful and politically motivated.” This is how Alexander Shishlov, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg and Chairman of the St. Petersburg branch of Yabloko, assessed the decision of the Petrogradsky District Court, which found him guilty of an administrative offense under Article 20.3.3 (Public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces) and fined him 35,000 roubles.

The court’s decision was based on the results of a forensic linguistic examination by the North-West Regional Centre for Expertise of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.

Experts Natalya Pikalyova and Anna Medvedeva considered that Alexander Shishlov’s three publications on the VKontakte social media “contained a combination of linguistic and psychological signs of persuading the addressee of the negative nature of the goals of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”.

According to academics and experts – Doctor of Historical Sciences Irina Levinskaya (author of more than 80 examinations) and Dr. Dmitry Dubrovsky (who conducted over 60 expertises and examinations), (*and who is a ‘foreign agent” according to the Ministry of Justice of the RF) the indicated expert examination did meet the requirements for such examinations and was professionally untenable. Dubrovsky emphasised that the conclusions of the Centre’s experts “should be considered an example of a deliberately false examination”.

Alexander Shishlov criticized in his posts the announcement of a minute of silence in memory of the ex-LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, since Zhirinovsky incited hatred and aggression, spoke negatively about the initiative to introduce criminal punishment for insulting the St. George ribbon and giving it a state status, and also wrote about the inappropriateness of folding the ribbon into the Latin letter Z.

“I regard today’s decision as legally unfounded, unlawful and politically motivated. This is another judicial act that has nothing to do with the Constitution, and law and justice. It a political, rather than legal decision and is aimed at pressure and intimidation of political opponents of the authorities. The decision will be appealed to the St. Petersburg City Court,” Alexander Shishlov said.

Speaking at the court hearings, Alexander Shishlov asked: “How can a political opposition act in a country that, according to the Constitution, is a democratic constitutional state, in which ideological and political diversity and a multi-party system are recognised? How can an opposition party act if it does not express its assessments and arguments publicly?”

It should be noted that after Alexander Shishlov was accused of “discrediting the Armed Forces”, he began to receive threats and insults via the Internet. Shishlov appealed to the city Public Prosecutor Viktor Melnik, and Shishlov’s lawyer Leonid Krikun filed an application to addressed to the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region demanding to initiate a criminal case on the fact of threats.

Earlier, 37 administrative protocols were drawn up against 30 members and supporters of Yabloko under the article on “discrediting the army”, including Lev Shlosberg, a member of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko and leader of the Pskov Yabloko, Sofia Pugacheva, head of the Novorzhevsky district of the Pskov region, municipal deputies Nikolai Kuzmin, Andrei Morev and Nodari Khananashvili.

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