Statement by the YABLOKO party, 10.12.2013

The YABLOKO party assesses the announced amnesty to be necessary but not sufficient. It will ease the fate of dozens of thousands of people who will come back from prison. This amnesty results from the perseverance of the civil society and human rights organisations. Due to their perseverance a number of political prisoners will be released: part of the defendants on the Bolotnaya Square disturbances, the Arctic Sunrise case and the Pussy Riot.

This amnesty could have become an important step towards reconciliation of the government and the civil society, but unfortunately failed. Only a small circle of perpetrators of minor offenses and non-violent crimes – women with young children, pregnant women, elderly, disabled and some other – fall under the act of pardon.

However, the initial draft amnesty act developed by member of the YABLOKO Bureau Andrei Babushkin envisaged that 200,000 people should have fallen under amnesty, including those convicted for the first time on non-violent crimes not entailing irreversible consequences and receiving the term of punishment under three years, those suffering from grave diseases, those who reconciled with the victims in court, etc.

The authorities decided only on a narrow amnesty act, which would not cover a number of political prisoners, including the defendants on the “May 6 disturbances” case and entrepreneurs who became victims of racketeering. The act of pardon will not affect our comrades sentenced on fabricated cases.

We demand that the State Duma must broaden the act of pardon extending it to all political prisoners and entrepreneurs persecuted for political reasons, including our friend and colleague Maxim Petlin, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Platon Lebedev, Alexei Navalny and many others.

Russia as a state with a penitentiary system inheriting from the GULAG needs humanity and mercy, “mercy for the fallen”.

Sergei Mitrokhin

Chairman