Statement by the Federal Bureau of Yabloko, 15.08.2024

Photo: Ella Pamfilova, head of the Central Electoral Commission, and Grigory Melkonyants, Co-Chair of the Golos independent observers movement, at a round table devoted to organization of election observation as part of the All-Russian Civil Forum, 25 November, 2017 / Photo by Golos

On 14 August, the Vasileostrovsky District Court of St.Petersburg fined Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party and a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, for alleged participation in the activities of an undesirable organisation, expressed in an interview on the YouTube channel of the movement for the protection of voters’ rights Golos. A similar prosecution is being carried out against a member of the Federal Bureau of the party, Alexander Yefimov.

The Novgorod Regional Court groundlessly refused to remove the status of “a person affiliated with a foreign agent” from Yabloko party member Ksenia Cherepanova in connection with her participation in the work of the Golos movement, which ended in 2021.

The criminal prosecution of the founder and leader of the Golos movement Grigory Melkonyants, who was arrested in 2023 on charges of allegedly participating in the activities of an undesirable organisation, goes on.

The Yabloko party considers the persecution of the founders, leaders, and participants of the Golos movement and any citizens who became interlocutors on the information resources of this movement to be political repression, and such cases – both administrative and criminal – as implemented on order and having no legal grounds.

At the same time, the movement for the protection of voters’ rights Golos is not even included in the official list of undesirable organisations compiled by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the leaders of the movement have repeatedly received gratitude from electoral commissions, including the Central Electoral Commission, for their work to achieve fairness and transparency of elections in our country.

Golos is a Russian human rights organisation that makes a significant contribution to the development of civil society, the organisation of public control over elections, improving the quality of work of electoral commissions, and studying election practices. The persecution of this organisation and its members means that the authorities consider “undesirable” and “a threat to the security of the state” not violations of the law during elections and falsification of their results, but the work of those who record these violations.

This persecution is directed against politicians and activists who defend the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens and the democratic structure of our country, against all citizens and NGOs who are undesirable for the authorities.

The Yabloko party believes that the persecution of those who control the elections is contrary to the state interests of Russia.

The Yabloko party demands the cessation of all administrative and criminal cases related to the activities of the Golos movement, the release of all political prisoners arrested in these cases, and the restoration of civilian control over the elections.

The Yabloko party demands the complete abolition of the legislation on undesirable organisations and foreign agents as an instrument of nationwide political repression.

Nikolai Rybakov,

Yabloko Chairman