Blog post by Emilia Slabunova, 17.05.2021

Photo by yuplex/Depositphotos.com

The trade union of the Moscow metro reports mass dismissals of workers – at least 50 people lost their jobs since the beginning of May. However, different figures are quoted: 100 and 200 people. They differ, since not everyone has yet applied to the trade union for protection. The dismissed associate this with their political position – they registered on the web-site in support of Alexei Navalny, and the data from the web-site had previously leaked to the Internet.

Article 19 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation 19 imperatively enshrines the duty of the state to guarantee “equality of human and civil rights and freedoms, regardless of gender, race, nationality, language, origin, property and official status, place of residence, attitude to religion, beliefs, membership in public associations, and other circumstances”. This provision refers to the foundations of the legal status of an individual in the Russian Federation and cannot be changed arbitrarily, but only in the manner prescribed by the Constitution. Violation of the principle of equality of human and civil rights and freedoms, i.e. discrimination, entails criminal liability for persons who commit these actions using their official position – [this is envisaged in] Article 136 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In addition, Article 13 of the Basic Law of the Russian Federation states that “The Russian Federation recognises political diversity and a multi-party system”. This provision refers to the foundations of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation and also cannot be changed arbitrarily, but only in the manner established by the Constitution.

Political discrimination did occurred in the past. Earlier they had been trying to disguise it, leaving no traces, so that the discriminated person could not prove any evidence in court, then in this case they did not disguise anything any more. The violation of the Constitution [with Vladimir Putin’s amendments] on 1 July, 2020, untied the hands. The situation with the layoffs of metro workers, according to their testimony (see the link), the unshakable provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation are openly and cynically violated, with confidence in impunity. This is done in a demonstrative manner and with the aim of intimidation. It becomes especially important for the authorities before the upcoming elections in order to ensure the desired result. Coercion of workers to participate in the primaries of the [pro-government’s] United Russia party reported these days from different places constitute another example of this.

I demand to reinstate the dismissed workers of the Moscow metro and initiate criminal proceedings against officials who organised discrimination on political grounds!

EMILIA SLABUNOVA

is member of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party, Chair of Yabloko in 2015-2019.

Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia.

Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Honored Teacher of Russia