Press Release, 19.08.2020

On August 18, a series of single pickets (that do not require any permissions from the authorities) of residents of the city of Baltiysk against the arbitrariness of the authorities who denied registration in the election to Sergei Dustin, Chairman of the Baltiysk branch of Yabloko and candidate from the party to the election of deputies of the City Council of Baltiysk, took place near the building of the government of the Kaliningrad region.

The day before, the court in in Baltiysk satisfied the claim of the United Russia candidate and removed Sergei Dustin, chairman of the local Yabloko branch, from municipal elections due to technical misprints, which the head of the Central Electoral Commission officially called on not to be considered as grounds for withdrawal two years ago, having sent appropriate recommendations to the regional electoral commissions.

The Kaliningrad regional branch of the Yabloko party considers this court decision unlawful and will appeal against it in all courts.

Sergei Dustin is well known in the region as an active human rights activist and an implacable fighter against the arbitrariness of the authorities not only in Baltiysk. For many years he has been consistently defending the interests of his fellow citizens, organising assistance to low-income families and large families. In recent years, he has been fighting against corruption by all legal means, speaking out against fraud with land on the coast of the Baltic Sea. According to Dustin, the correspondence with the authorities of all levels amounts to six volumes already.