Press Release, 12.09.2024

We invite all to take part in a charity auction, all proceeds from which will be sent to the families of seven political prisoners. This will be the fifth event in support of those unjustly deprived of their freedom. The previous four auctions in support of political prisoners raised over 4.6 million roubles. This time, Yabloko and the participants of the auction will support Igor Baryshnikov, Nadezhda Buyanova, Vladimir Yefimov, Grigory Melkonyants, Sergei Mikhailov, Ivan Safronov and Alexei Sokolov.

Kirill Goncharov, the organiser of the auction and Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Yabloko, says that the recent exchange of political prisoners should not mislead anyone, hundreds of people are still in Russian prisons for their beliefs and views.

“Our task, as always, is to help. We understand that it is impossible to collect everything at one auction, but it is possible to attract attention,” Goncharov comments.

This time, funds are being collected for those who need medical care, publicity, and money to pay for the work of lawyers and to improve their daily lives:

Igor Baryshnikov is sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for “fakes about the army”. The illnesses that Baryshnikov suffers from are included in the list of illnesses preventing from serving a sentence in the form of imprisonment, however, he is imprisoned.

Nadezhda Buyanova, a pediatrician, is under investigation in a detention centre. She faces up to ten years of imprisonment for “fakes about the army”. The widow of a person killed in the special military operation accused Buianova of “spreading fakes about the army”.

Vladimir Yefimov, journalist and the leader of the Kamchatka branch of Yabloko, was sent to a pretrial detention centre for publishing “fakes about the army” on his social media. This is the second criminal case opened against the journalist.

Grigory Melkonyants is in custody, accused of organising the activities of an undesirable organisation – the movement of independent election observers Golos.

Sergei Mikhailov is sentences to eight years in prison for his journalistic activity – publishing “fakes about the army” in the Altai newspaper Listok.

Ivan Safronov is sentenced to 22 years in a maximum security penal colony under the article on treason. According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), Safronov collected and transferred information constituting a state secret to one of the NATO special services. In fact, Safronov was engaged in journalistic activity, working with open sources of information.

Alexei Sokolov was sent to a pretrial detention centre. He faces up to four years in prison for “publicly displaying the symbols of extremist organisations” – the Facebook logo.

The list of the lots will be announced later. The auction organisers promise that, as always, books, works of art, valuables and memorabilia of famous political and public figures, artists, poets and journalists will be put up for auction.

The auction will be held at the Yabloko party office in Moscow (31 Pyatnitskaya St., building 2) on 24 September at 7 p.m. (Moscow time).