Press Release, 19.07.2024

Photo: Boris Vishnevsky by the court with his defence attorneys / Photo by the regional branch of Yabloko

The Vasileostrovsky District Court in St.Petersburg held the first hearing on the merits in the lawsuit filed by Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party and MP of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, against the Ministry of Justice. Vishnevsky challenges the decision by the Ministry of Justice to include him in the “foreign agents” register.

In its explanations of the reasons for including Vishnevsky in the “foreign agents” register, the Ministry of Justice refers to Vishnevsky’s participation in broadcasts by various Russian journalists, for example, Oleg Kashin and Alexander Plyushchev. And also receiving help from YouTube and Facebook in the form of their “provision of a platform” for Vishnevsky. No foreign funding of Vishnevsky was found, however, according to the new rules of the Ministry of Justice this is not necessary – officials can recognise anyone criticising the government as “foreign agents”.

“There are no legal or lawful grounds for inclusion in the register. The realisation of Vishnevsky’s rights (the right to freely disseminate information, Article 29 of the Constitution) led to his inclusion in the register. As for the legal aspects, even the Ministry of Justice established that Vishnevsky did not receive a single cent or other foreign funding,” lawyer Vitaly Isakov concluded at the court hearing.

According to him, the Ministry of Justice in its objections and certificates did not explain in what way the “foreign influence” was expressed in and what its result was. The behaviour and public position of the Legislative Assembly deputy did not change in any way after the interviews with Kashin or Plyushchev [journalists included in the “foreign agents” register].

“In Soviet times there was such a term ‘disenfranchised’,” another representative of Vishnevsky, Yabloko’s lawyer Alexander Kobrinsky, noted. “Now it is almost the same: been added in the “foreign agents” register at the discretion of an official, without any clear criteria, leads to the deprivation of many constitutional rights, including voting rights. But keep in mind, that in former times those who made others “disenfranchised” very often found themselves in their place later,” Kobrinsky addressed the representatives of the Ministry of Justice.

Commentary by Boris Vishnevsky:

Russian Minister of Justice Konstantin Chuychenko in one of his speeches said that not a single person challenging the status of a foreign agent in court said that he/she was for Russia and against foreign interference.

So, I am for Russia, I am against foreign interference, and everything I do, I do in the interests of Russia. If this were not so, then the citizens of Russia would not have elected me three times in a row as a deputy and their representative.

Every day citizens stop me on the street and are outraged by the decision of the Ministry of Justice. <…> As for my using YouTube, as far as I know, the Ministry of Justice also has a channel there, like a number of other government agencies. Do I understand correctly that the Ministry of Justice must appoint itself a foreign agent? <…> Proceeding from the logic of the Ministry of Justice and the answers of its representative in court, any interview by a politician with any foreign media is a receipt of “foreign assistance” in the form of “expanding the audience”. But the President of the Russian Federation has recently given an interview to foreign journalist Tucker Carlson to convey his position to a Western audience. This was strongly welcomed by the Russian authorities. Why is the President not on the register? Or is the law not the same for everyone – one for Vishnevsky, and another for other persons? This does not mean that I want the President to be included in the register of foreign agents; I do not want anyone, including me, to be included in it on such far-fetched grounds.

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The next court hearing in the Vasileostrovsky District Court will take place on 6 August at 11:30.

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