Press release, 05.04.2016
Andrei Babushkin, member of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights and YABLOKO Bureau member, claims that the candidacy for the post of Ombudsperson must be discussed by the civil society. The human rights defender forwarded an appropriate application to Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights.

Ombudsperson is one of the key figures who can influence the state of the civil society in Russia. But the civil society is held away from discussing the candidates for the post of Ombudsperson, Babushkin says.

The human righst defender suggests that the candidates for the Ombudsperson post must hold a meeting with the civil society representatives at the enlarged session of the Council for Human Rights. According to Babushkin, the representatives of regional Councils for Human Rights, regional Ombudspersons, members of the Public Chamber of Russia and prominent human rights activists, who are not members of the Council, must participate in the discussion.

Mikhail Fedotov had already declared that if the candidates for the post of Ombudsperson wanted to participate in such a discussion, the Council for Human Rights would be glad to meet them.

The State Duma’s relevant committee for constitutional legislation and nation-building fixed 11 April as the time limit within which the candidacies for the Ombudsperson post can be introduced.

Head of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseyeva, leader of the “For Human Rights” movement Lev Ponomarev and other well-known human rights activists would like to see Vladimir Lukin, one of YABLOKO founders, as new Ombudsman. Also regional Ombudsmen (from the Perm Territory and the Maritime Territory, the Sakhalin Region and St. Petersburg) spoke in favour of Lukin’s candidacy.

Alexander Shishlov, St.Petersburg Ombudsman, who last year suspended his membership of the YABLOKO party, as required by law, was also named among possible contenders for the post. Shishlov’s candidacy was proposed by Yuri Berezutsky, Ombudsman of Khabarovsk Territory.

YABLOKO leaders – Emilia Slabunova, the party Chairperson and Grigory Yavlinsky, Chairman of YABLOKO’s Federal Political Committee – also said that Alexander Shishlov deserved to become Russia’s Ombudsman.

Emilia Slabunova said that other possible candidates could be ex-Mayor of Petrozavodsk Galina Shirshina and co-Chair of the YABLOKO’s Human Rights Faction Valery Barshchov.

On 30 March, the Regional Council of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO addressed the deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation with an appeal to reject the candidacy of Tatyana Moskalkova, police Major General, to the post of Ombudsperson.