Grigory Yavlinsky’s Facebook page, 15.10.2019

Konstantin Kotov was sentenced to four years [in a penal colony]. The defender of the Constitution and the rights of citizens of Russia, who has not committed any crime, will be in prison. Yesterday, the Moscow City Court upheld this decision. Neither the arguments of twelve lawyers, nor guarantors, nor even the Constitution of the Russian Federation could change anything. Because there is a political decision: Kotov should be in prison. So that to intimidate and frighten all.

Yesterday, four more [young people] were arrested within the “Moscow riots case”: Barshai, Emelyanova, Lesnykh, Martintsova. Two more managed to escape before the arrest.

The Russian authorities have been rigging elections at all levels at all stages of the electoral process for more than two decades: at the stage of collection of signatures [required for registration in the campaign], registration, campaigning, voting, counting and announcing the results. This summer in Moscow, people were outraged by the obvious falsification of electoral documents by the Moscow City Electoral Commission (under the cover of the Central Electoral Commission) – [masked as] verification of signatures collected by candidates. By the way, such a falsified verification of signatures, i.e. falsification of election documents in punishable under Article 142 of the Criminal Code up to four years of imprisonment. People, many of whom signed for candidates [independent from the Moscow Mayor’s Office] (only Yabloko collected 76,000 signatures), took to the streets in protest. Counterfeiters ordered the police and the Russian Guard to suppress and clean up the protest, detain citizens who expressed absolutely fair indignation. People, realising that they are right, resisted as they could. And now they are persecuted, taken to courts and imprisoned for the fact that they had peacefully and openly defended the law, the Constitution and the law, and demanded to abolish fakes.

The struggle for truth in the Putin system is the most dangerous form of activity. It is impossible to correct such a system – it needs to be changed. “Make Your Voice Louder!” (See: “Join Yabloko so that to make your voice heard!”)