Press Release, 13.02.2023

Photo: Boris Vishnevsky / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

The reason for blocking the page of Boris Vishnevsky, an MP of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg from Yabloko and Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party, was his post in where he wrote about the pioneers movement, Moskvich brand cars and quoted the Polish writer Stanisław Jerzy Lec. This was announced by a representative of Roskomnadzor, Russian media regulator, at the hearing in the Vasileostrovsky District Court on Monday, 13 February.

Earlier, the agency stated that the politician’s page had been blocked by the decision of the Public Prosecutor General’s Office as presenting “inaccurate socially significant information aimed at destabilization of the socio-political situation in the Russian Federation”.

During the trial, which lasted several months, Roskomnadzor also voiced the version that Vishnevsky with his posts about “general mobilisation” and “possible use of nuclear weapons,” created “panic moods” among people and even created prerequisites for “massive violations of public order”. However, the defendants represented by the Public Prosecutor General’s Office and Roskomnadzor failed to say to what specific posts the allegations referred.

Only at the fifth hearing, the representative of Roskomnadzor provided Vishnevsky and the court with a screenshot of the page with the only post that caused the blocking. The publication dealt with the “ceremonial admission [of children] to the pioneers”, the return of the Moskvich automobile brand, and drew parallels with Soviet political repressions and the culture of denunciations.

“And for those who rave about the ‘glorious past’, let me remind you of  Stanisław Jerzy Lec: ‘For those who wear blinders, it is useful to remember that the kit also includes a bridle and a whip,’” Vishnevsky wrote in his post.

“It is impossible to learn about the position of the state agencies without laughter. Apparently, Lec’s quote violates the socio-political situation in the Russian Federation,” Vishnevsky said.

“Nevertheless, the information has been provided, on the fifth attempt and with great reluctance. There is nothing secret in this information, which has been confirmed by the representative of the Public Prosecutor General’s Office at the meeting. Nothing prevented them from providing it last summer,” Boris Vishnevsky noted.

However, the court refused to satisfy the plaintiff’s claim – recognition of the inaction of the Public Prosecutor General’s Office and the Roskomnadzor. Vishnevsky and his representative, lawyer Andrei Chertkov, plan to appeal the decision to the City Court.

“We are satisfied that the reason for the blocking of the page has finally been explained to us after more than six months of court hearings and correspondence. But we are not satisfied with the decision of the court and we will appeal against it,” Vishnevsky said.

The politician’s page was blocked back in June 2022. After appealing to the Public Prosecutor General’s Office for clarification, Boris Vishnevsky was unable to get a substantive response and brought a case against the Public Prosecutor General’s Office and Roskomnadzor to court.

Earlier, Emilia Slabunova, an MP of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia from Yabloko, finally succeeded in finding out which exactly entries on her personal page on VKontakte caused her to be blocked by the decision of the Public Prosecutor General’s Office. It turned out that two posts caused the blocking. The first provided official data on the death of the first serviceman from Karelia with a quote from President Putin. The second entry was a repost of an interview with Valentina Melnikova, Executive Secretary of the Union of Committees of Soldiers’ Mothers. Emilia Slabunova also managed to get clarifications on the circumstances of the blocking only within the framework of a trial.

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