Statement by the Yabloko Bureau, 22.04.2021

Photo by Ilya Pitalev / RIA Novosti

April 21 again became the day of the triumph of police arbitrariness in Russia. Once again, mass-scale, unmotivated detentions of participants in peaceful actions with unjustified and disproportionate use of force took place throughout the country.

We note the particularly brutal actions of the security forces in St. Petersburg against the backdrop of the relatively reserved behaviour of the Moscow police.

At the same time, the detention in Moscow of the politician Vladimir Ryzhkov and the member of the Yabloko Bureau Kirill Goncharov, who did not participate and had not planned to participate in the action, looks like provocative lawlessness.

Vladimir Ryzhkov was detained by officers of the Khamovniki Department of Internal Affairs for reposting news from the Ekho Moskvy website on his page on social networks. Kirill Goncharov and 16 of his volunteers were detained at the premises of his election headquarters and taken to the Kuntsevo police department by an anonymous call.

The absurd actions of police officers that do not have a legal basis can be explained solely by political motives and are intended to intimidate society.

A particular danger of the current situation is that the police state emerging in our country actually endows individual divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and their heads with independent and unlimited powers. The omnipotence of the law enforcement agencies in Russia takes on forms that are dangerous for freedom and the state.

The non-admission of lawyers to the detainees is a gross violation of the right of citizens to legal protection and undermines one of the main principles of the police work enshrined in law: the openness of the activities.

The use of the police to disperse peaceful actions shows the authorities’ unwillingness to satisfy the public’s request for a dialogue with the authorities.

We demand an investigation into all unlawful actions against Russian citizens on 21 April, and we also consider it fundamentally necessary and urgent to conduct an inspection [of the actions] of the police officers and heads of the Kuntsevo and Khamovniky police departments [in Moscow], as well as the police officers and heads of the law enforcement agencies of St. Petersburg.

The entire Russian society urgently needs to resist police arbitrariness using all possible legal means. Yabloko considers its priority task to protect all citizens of Russia from political persecution, regardless of their views and beliefs.

We demand strict observance of the constitutional right to freedom of assembly and enshrining in the legislation of the notification procedure [and not obtaining of permissions] for organising demonstrations. We demand lifting of unlawful restrictions on public events under the pretext of the coronavirus epidemic.

No to police arbitrariness! Freedom for all political prisoners!

Nikolai Rybakov,

Yabloko Chairman