Press Release, 7.02.2025

Photo: Konstantin Smirnov at the hearing of the court selecting a preventive measure for him, 31 January/ Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

The Ryazan Regional Court today rejected the journalist’s defense’s appeal against the decision to place him in custody.

The Smirnov’s lawyer insisted that Konstantin Smirnov should not be kept in pretrial detention due to his health reasons, as well as the need to constantly care for his sick mother. In addition, the investigation has already questioned Smirnov’s wife, thus the circumstances that prevented the politician from being placed under house arrest have disappeared. Nevertheless, the court upheld the decision to place Smirnov in a pretrial detention centre.

It should be noted that the day after Konstantin Smirnov’s arrest, the rural settlement in Dubrovichi, where he was a deputy from Yabloko and for the preservation of which he fought, was liquidated. On 1 February, the Council of Deputies of the Dubrovichi rural settlement of the Ryazan region finally approved the decision to liquidate the rural settlement in Dubrovichi and to unite all settlements of the region into a municipal district, which reduces the number of deputies in Dubrovichi.

Read more on persecution of Yabloko members since the start of the special military operation.