The police seized 19 Yelena Osipova’s paintings about peace from the office of the St. Petersburg branch of Yabloko
Press Release, 01.02.2023
Photo: The Exhibition / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The police seized 19 paintings about peace by artist and activist Yelena Osipova. The paintings were exhibited at the office of the St. Petersburg branch of Yabloko at Spalernaya 13.
On Wednesday, 1 February, police officers came to the Yabloko office, cordoned off the premises and said that they had received a call about an alleged bomb threat. Then they took all Yabloko activists out into the street and did not let them in for several hours. The work of the party office was paralysed, and the candidates nominated by Yabloko for the by-elections of municipal deputies in the Krasnoselsky and Yuzhno-Primorsky municipal districts were unable to complete the preparation of documents for submission to the electoral commissions.
Police officers with a service dog did not find any explosive objects in the office, but they seized Osipova’s artworks, including those painted several years ago.
Photo: Seizure of paintings / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Yabloko activists told the police that the paintings were of artistic and material value and belonged to the artist Yelena Osipova, but the police took them out without even packing them properly to ensure their safety. “Graphic images on cardboard, pieces of cloth and canvases, possibly containing deliberately false information, data on the use of the Russian Armed Forces were found indoors, on the walls,” the police report on the inspection of the scene runs.
“Today the police were virtually involved in a provocation organised by unidentified persons. The actions of the police officers will be appealed,” Alexander Shishlov, Chairman of the St. Petersburg branch of the Yabloko party, said.
An exhibition of paintings by the famous St. Petersburg artist and activist Yelena Osipova “PEACE-FUL Art Protest” opened at the Yabloko office in St.Petersburg on Tuesday, 31 January. At the opening, Osipova said that over the past year, the police had taken part of her paintings and still haven’t returned them.
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
Posted: February 1st, 2023 under Elections, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Regional and Local Elections, Regional and Local Elections 2023, Russia-Ukraine relations, Yabloko's Regional Branches, Без рубрики.