Press Release, 17.08.2021

Photo from the Viktor Rau personal Facebook page

On 17 August, the Altai Regional Court overturned the decision of the electoral commission on the registration of Viktor Rau for the State Duma elections in Barnaul single-mandate constituency No. 39. The lawsuit was filed by Alexander Molotov, a candidate from the Just Russia [pro-government] party.

Alexander Molotov said that Yabloko should not participate in the elections due to the fact that he was a supporter of the Alexei Navalny Headquarters movement, which was recognised as an extremist organisation in Russia. Participation in rallies for the release of political prisoners was considered support for the organisation.

“There are reprisals against real oppositionists and they are not registered in the elections across Russia. Today I have learned some details: the authorities approached different parties and [our] competitors so that they submit such a law suit. There was more than one “request” to different parties that are unfriendly to me, but not everyone decided to bring themselves to such an act. However, the representative of the Just Russia party, Alexander Molotov, made up his mind. Meanness remains meanness at all times,” Viktor Rau said commenting on the decision of the court.

It should be noted that the Moscow City Court made a decision to cancel the registration of Lev Shlosberg as a candidate for State Duma in a single-mandate constituency on the administrative claim of Andrei Pangayev, a candidate for State Duma deputy in single-mandate constituency No. 207 from the Green Party.

On August 6, an administrative protocol was drawn up against Alexander Korovainy, a candidate for State Duma from Yabloko, for his deleted video in support of Alexei Navalny.

On August 7, the Rostov police disrupted a meeting with voters of Alexander Ryabchuk, a Yabloko candidate for the State Duma.

Candidates for deputies of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg faced difficulties during registration. A candidate from the Green Alternative party and a self-nominated candidate tried to remove Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of Yabloko, from elections complaining on his posts about the need to protect the detainees, but the relevant electoral commissions did not support the complaint.

On August 13, the public prosecutor’s office of the Vakhitovsky district of Kazan also appealed to the court with a demand to recognize the chairman of the Tatarstan Yabloko, the leader of the regional party list in the elections to the State Duma, as well as the candidate in single-mandate constituency No. 31 Ruslan Zinatullin, involved in the extremist organization Navalny Headquarters, court session scheduled for 20 August.

On 13 August, the court in Kazan recognised Yelena Izotova, Yabloko candidate for the State Duma, involved in the “extremist” organization and now she faces removal from elections.