Press Release, 15.11.2022

Photo: Alexander Shishlov and his lawyer Andrei Chertkov / Photo by Dinar Idrisov

A judge of the St. Petersburg City Court upheld the decision on the fine in the case of “discrediting the army” against Alexander Shishlov, the leader of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg and the head of the regional branch of the party. Shishlov intends to appeal the decision of the City Court to the Third Court of Cassation.

Answering journalists’ questions after the hearing, Alexander Shishlov said that he regarded this case as aimed at pressure and intimidation of the dissenting and political opponents of the authorities.

“The Yabloko party, acting strictly within the framework of the Constitution and current legislation, criticises the current state policies, including those in relation to what is happening on the territory of Ukraine. The position of Yabloko and proposals on the necessary priority steps aimed at stopping the death of people in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict are formulated in the decisions (published and widely known) of the Congress and the Federal Political Committee of the party of which I am the Coordinator,” Alexander Shishlov said.

It should be noted that on & October, the judge of the Petrogradsky District Court found Shishlov 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 politician assessed the court’s decision as “legally unfounded, unlawful and politically motivated”.

The reason for the decision of the court was Shishlov’s posts on the social network VKontakte, where Alexander Shishlov spoke negatively about the initiative to give a state status to the St. George ribbon and introduce criminal punishment for insulting this symbol, and also wrote about the inappropriateness of folding the ribbon into the Latin letter Z and criticised the announcement of a minute of silence in the memory of the ex-LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, since Zhirinovsky incited hatred and aggression.

The experts of the Ministry of Justice considered that the posts of Shishlov “contained a combination of linguistic and psychological signs of persuading the addressee of the negative nature of the goals of using the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.”

However, 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 of the Ministry of Justice did meet the requirements for such examinations and was professionally untenable and “should be considered an example of a deliberately false examination”. However, the Judge ignored the position of reputable experts who convincingly showed the inconsistency of the Ministry of Justice examination.

According to Shishlov’s defense, the court also violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ratified by Russia, which guarantees the right to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial court.  The decision of the Petrogradsky Court contradicts the constitutional rights to freedom of thought and freedom of speech.

Another reason for the appeal was that, according to the defence of Alexander Shishlov, the court exceeded the three-month statute of limitations for bringing to justice.

The full text of Alexander Shishlov’s speech in the St. Petersburg City Court is available here.

ALEXANDER SHISHLOV

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