Press Release, 6.04.2026

Photo: Presentation of Eva Merkacheva’s books at the Yabloko office, September 2023 / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Eva Merkacheva, a member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights and a columnist for Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, has submitted a character reference on Konstantin Smirnov, imprisoned leader of Ryazan Yabloko and editor-in-chief of Vidsboku media, requesting that the court change his remand measure.

“I consider pre-trial detention an excessive measure, one that should only be applied to those who have committed violent or particularly serious crimes. This is inconsistent with the charges brought against journalist Smirnov. I request that his remand measure be replaced with a less restrictive one. I give my assurance that Konstantin Smirnov will not abscond from justice when required to appear, will attend court hearings, and will not obstruct the proceedings in any other way,” Eva Merkacheva’s statement runs.

In November 2025, Eva Merkacheva had already submitted a similar character reference to the court. Throughout the past year, calls to change Konstantin Smirnov’s remand measure also came from civic figures in Ryazan, dozens of Russian journalists, Yabloko Chair Nikolai Rybakov, Chair of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee Grigory Yavlinsky, and other party leaders and deputies from different regions of Russia.

It should be noted that Smirnov is being prosecuted on political grounds for his opposition to the municipal reform: he had informed residents of the region about the impending abolition of rural settlements together with their deputies’ councils, taken part in public hearings on the merger of settlements, and covered the hearings — which were mired in controversy — in the media and online. It was for this work that Smirnov was arrested and remanded in custody on 31 January 2025; the formal pretext, however, was an accusation of alleged extortion.