Press Release, 23.11.2021

Photo: Ruslan Zinatullin / Photo by the Press Service of the Tatarstan branch of Yabloko

The Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan approved the decision of the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan which had recognised Ruslan Zinatullin, Chairman of the Tatarstan branch of Yabloko, involved in the activities of Alexei Navalny’s Headquarters, an “extremist organisation” since summer 2021.

In the summer of 2021, during the election campaign to the State Duma, the Public Prosecutor’s Office demanded that Zinatulin be recognised as involved in the activities of an extremist organisation. Thus, the authorities wanted to prevent him from participating in the elections. Zinatullin was accused of “popularising Alexei Navalny’s activities” on social networks and organising a rally “against political repression” permitted by the Kazan Mayor’s Office in early 2021, whereas the court decided that the rally had been held solely in support of the arrested politician Alexei Navalny and his supporters detained in during the winter protests in Russia.

On 20 August, the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan recognized Ruslan Zinatullin involved in an “extremist organisation” (https://eng.yabloko.ru/a-court-in-kazan-recognised-ruslan-zinatullin-a-yabloko-candidate-for-the-state-duma-involved-in-an-extremist-organisation/ ), however, Zinatullin filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan and was able to continue his election campaign to the State Duma.

In November, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Ruslan Zinatullin. As a result, Zinatullinn will not be able to take part in the elections for three years. Such amendments were made this year to the electoral law. Zinatullin intends to appeal against the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic up to the European Court of Human Rights.

It should be noted, that in addition to Zinatullin, courts in the Republic of Tatarstan, recognized two more Yabloko candidates to the State Duma as involved in the activities of the “extremist organisation”: Yelena Izotova (https://eng.yabloko.ru/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/ ) and Gulnaz Ravilova (https://eng.yabloko.ru/27262-2/ ). Both were also banned from participating in elections for three years.