Press Release, 8.10.2020

Andrei Babushkin, member of the Federal Bureau of the Yabloko party and member of the Human Rights Council under the President of Russia, sent appeals to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Presidential Adviser Valery Fadeyev calling them to revise legislation, in particular, the law on fakes, and to conduct an investigation into the death of Irina Slavina, journalist and Editor-in-Chief of Koza Press.

In his address, Andrei Babushkin recalls that in recent years, Irina Slavina has become “the object of harassment by law enforcement agencies, their systemic and unpunished exceeding of their powers, aggressive bullying of the Centre for Countering Extremism, and inaction of the Nizhny Novgorod Public Prosecutor’s Office”. In view of this, Babushkin calls on President Putin to adopt the following measures:

– consider the possibility of dismissal with deprivation of ranks, state awards and a ban on holding public posts of Ayrat Akhmetshin, head of the Main Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Yuri Arsentyev, head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Nizhny Novgorod Region, investigator Andrei Shlykov, who opened a criminal case, Public Prosecutor Nikolai Borozinets, who allowed the criminal case against Slavina to proceed, and judge Alexei Polzunov, who authorised the searches;

– check the performance of the Public Prosecutor’s Office on appeals by Slavina and media publications about the violation of her rights;

– initiate a criminal case on bringing Irina Slavina to suicide, determine the circle of the perpetrators and bring them to responsibility established by law;

– amend the Criminal Procedure Code, narrowing the range of grounds for conducting a search of witnesses and providing that a search at the place of residence cannot be carried out earlier than 10:00, except for urgent investigative actions by analogy with a search at night.

– establish the legal basis for the involvement of the Russian Special Police Force of the National Guard Troops

– revise the legislation on foreign agents in order to reduce the risk of abuse of the norms in this area of ​​legislation;

– revise the legislation on fakes in order to reduce the danger of abuse of the norms in this area of ​​legislation;

– install a memorial sign at the place of Irina Slavina’s death.

Nizhny Novgorod journalist Irina Slavina committed suicide on 2 October. Before that, she wrote on her Facebook page: “I ask you to blame the Russian Federation for my death”.

Yabloko party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, who was personally acquainted with the journalist, demanded that the Public Prosecutor General and the Investigative Committee open a criminal case under the article “driving to suicide” in connection with her self-immolation.