Press Release, 2.09.2024

Photo: Municipal candidate Maria Chuprina during the campaign. / Photo from social media

Today, judges of the Moscow City Court rejected the appeals of all six Yabloko candidates against the decision of the Tushinsky District Court to remove them from the snap municipal elections in the Kurkino district of Moscow that are due on 8 September. During the hearings in the court, the Yabloko candidates continued to campaign under the general party slogan “For Peace and Freedom! For the Ceasefire Agreement!”. However, they will not be able to work with voters in the district now, despite their plans to appeal the decision in the cassation court.

It should be noted that two candidates in multi-mandate districts filed lawsuits against the territorial electoral commission demanding that previously registered Yabloko candidates be removed from the elections: Ivan Dorofeyev, Nikolai Zyorov, Yevgeny Lyapin, and Maria Chuprina in multi-mandate district No. 1, as well as Mikhail Chistov and Alexander Kupriyanov in district No. 2. The grounds for removal of Yabloko candidates from the elections indicated in the lawsuits were the presence of invalid signatures in the candidates’ signature sheets, failure to provide interim financial reports, and the absence of information about secret voting in the extracts from the Yabloko conference minutes.

Yabloko rejects all claims against the candidates’ documents as untenable from the point of view of the law and common sense. The decision not to allow a single Yabloko candidate to participate in the elections in Moscow is political in nature.

Kirill Goncharov, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Yabloko, comments on the Moscow City Court’s decision as follows:

“We, certainly, expected this, although it is sad that talented, active and honest guys with the most sincere intentions are being removed in such a barbaric manner. Nevertheless, we can say with confidence that the position of Yabloko enjoys the support of Muscovites, this is the real reason behind the authorities’ claims and this is the meaning of removing our candidates.

We will continue to work in the interests of peace and freedom for all.”

At the moment, 67 Yabloko candidates are participating in 30 election campaigns in eight Russian regions, making a political demand for an immediate ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine and the release of all political prisoners.