Press Release, 14.08.2019

Emilia Slabunova, Chair of the Yabloko party, asked Public Prosecutor General to check the lawfulness of the criminal case on the mass riots and the use of violence against representatives of the authorities after the protests in Moscow, as well as the lawfulness of the detention of the persons involved in the case. Slabunova sent a similar appeal to the Moscow Public Prosecutor’s office. Slabunova also asked the Commissioners for Human Rights of Russia and Moscow to send same inquiries to the Public Prosecutor General.

Slabunova emphasizes in her letters that “there are no signs of participation in the riots, organisation of riots, and the use of violence against a government official on behalf of those arrested in the case of mass riots and attacks on government officials”.

Slabunova also draws attention to the fact that the investigators’ requests to arrest protestors had no grounds behind them.

It should be noted that protests against the prohibition for independent candidates to run for deputies of the Moscow City Duma took place in Moscow on July 14, July 27 and August 3, 2019. The police detained a total of about 1,700 people for participating in the protest actions. The Investigative Committee initiated criminal cases on riots (under Article 212 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and attacks on government officials (under Article 318 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Moscow courts applied a preventive measure in the form of detention in respect of 14 people.

One of those arrested in the “riots” case is Yabloko’s activist Valery Kostenok, who is enjailed for two month as a pretrial measure by the decision of the Moscow Basmanny Court. Kostenok faces from three to eight years of imprisonment.