Representatives of the Public Prosecutor’s Office did not appear at the trial on Boris Vishnevsky’s participation in the activities of an “undesirable organisation”
Press Release, 03.06.2024
Photo: Boris Vishnevsky / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On 3 June, the Vasileostrovsky District Court began hearings on an absurd case against Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party and deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly. Vishnevsky was accused of participating in the activities of an “undesirable organisation”. The Public Prosecutor’s Office considers the deputy’s interview with the Golos independent election observers movement for fair elections to be a manifestation of such “participation”. The Public Prosecutor’s Office decided that the Golos movement was an “undesirable organisation,” although it had not been listed in the relevant register. The hearing was postponed because a representative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, who applied with the case to court, did not appear in court. Vishnevsky’s interests in court were represented by lawyer Andrei Chertkov.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office believes that Golos is associated with ENEMO (European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations), which was recognised as an undesirable organisation in Russia in 2021. However, the Golos movement is not a division of this organisation and has no relation to it.
“We consider the repressive laws under which the opposition is persecuted, including the law on “undesirable organisations,” to be unconstitutional,” Vishnevsky says. “But the claims against me are completely inconsistent even according to this law.”
In court, Andrei Chertkov only managed to submit a petition regarding the inadmissibility of certain “evidence”. The Public Prosecutor’s Office sent an expert opinion (on which it grounds its position) without any attribution of its authorship, and in an “unreadable” form: it is almost impossible to understand anything from it. The petition will be considered at the next meeting on 22 July.
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
Posted: June 6th, 2024 under Freedom of Speech, Governance, Human Rights, Judiciary, YABLOKO's faction in St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly, Yabloko's Regional Branches, Без рубрики.