Press Release, 9.01.2023

Photo: Boris Vishnevsky and Emilia Slabunova / Photo from social media

Boris Vishnevsky and Emilia Slabunova, MPs of the Legislative Assemblies of St. Petersburg and Karelia, were charged with “discrediting the armed forces” (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). Protocols on an administrative offense were drawn up against the politicians on the eve of the New Year. Information about the cases appeared on the web-sites of a district court of St. Petersburg and the City Court of Petrozavodsk. The information on the dates and times of the court hearings has not been published yet.

Boris Vishnevsky, a member of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly and Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party, says that he is not aware of the details of the case and he has not been informed in any way about the drafting of the protocol of offense against him. According to the joint press service of the courts of St. Petersburg, the reason for filing an administrative offense case against Vishnevsky could be a post on the politician’s public Telegram channel about the events in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.

“I don’t know anything about this ‘case’. It is hard to imagine that the police failed to find and notify a deputy of the Legislative Assembly about the administrative protocol being drawn up against him. Perhaps the police drew up a report on one of my “doppelgangers” in the [2021] elections to the Legislative Assembly? Although it is possible that this protocol was drawn up specifically against me and in this way the police congratulate the leaders of Yabloko on the New Year – after all, a similar protocol under the article on “discrediting” was drawn up on 28 December in relation to Emilia Slabunova, a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Karelia and a member of the Yabloko Political Committee,” Boris Vishnevsky said.

The protocol of offense against Emilia Slabunova, a member of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party, was drawn up on the basis of a denunciation by a member of the Karelia parliament from the [pro-government] United Russia party. The police were examining the speech of MP Slabunova at a joint meeting of two committees in the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia and her publications about this in her Telegram channel. Emilia Slabunova touched upon in her speech the agenda of the Karelian parliament – ensuring safety of children, building schools to avoid second shifts, and hiring psychologists in schools. There was no mention of the army in it.

“All my life I have been teaching and raising children, now I will defend the opportunity to protect their interests in court, for which, in fact, their parents elected me as a deputy,” Emilia Slabunova wrote in her Telegram channel.

Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov commented on the New Year’s “gifts” to deputies from Yabloko: “The Yabloko party goes on working and represents in Russian politics the opinion of millions of Russians who do not support what has been happening. We will provide all possible assistance and support to Yabloko deputies working in the regional parliaments of our country.”

“We regard these new “cases” as further pressure on Yabloko and those who do not agree with the current policies of the authorities. In fact, the initiation of such cases violates the constitutional rights to the freedom of speech, thought and information and discredits the very concepts of law and order. We will certainly defend our comrades from absurd accusations,” Alexander Shishlov, Coordinator of the Federal Political Committee and head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, says. Shishlov was previously found guilty of “discrediting the army” for his posts on the social network Vkontakte.

In total 40 administrative protocols were drawn up against 32 activists of the Yabloko party in 2022. Several party members received from two to four fines under Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. Vladimir Yefimov, Chairman of the Kamchatka branch of Yabloko and a journalist, received four fines for “discrediting the army”, as well as three fines for “demonstrating extremist symbols” and a criminal case on “discrediting the army” (Article 280.3 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The politician is now under a ban on certain actions, like other defendants in criminal cases, members of Yabloko: leader of the Yakutsk branch Anatoly Nogovitsyn (Article 280.3 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), Yabloko activist from Lipetsk Alexander Grigoryev (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “fakes about the army”). Another person suspected of spreading “fakes” about the Russian Armed Forces (Article 207.3 Part 2 Paragraph “a” of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) is Mikhail Afanasyev, a journalist in Khakassia, who has been in custody since April 2022.

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

EMILIA SLABUNOVA

is member of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party, Chair of Yabloko in 2015-2019.

Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia.

Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Honoured Teacher of Russia

BORIS VISHNEVSKY

is Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko Party, member of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee and Bureau, and an MP of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg