Press Release, 2.03.2022

Today at 6:30 in the morning, the Federal Security Service and the Chief Department for Countering Extremism searched the flat of Marina Zheleznyakova, Deputy Chair of the Yabloko branch in the Maritime Territory. At that moment, in addition to Zheleznyakova, there were her son and his wife, and her young grandson in the flat at the moment. The federal security officers seized a phone and a laptop from the flat.

Photo: Marina Zheleznyakova. / Photo from social networks

The formal pretext for the search was a decision to conduct a search in the flat for the presence of extremist materials and electronic devices. According to the security officers, Marina Zheleznyakova is neither a suspect nor a witness, the search is allegedly connected with the publication of a message with an extremist appeal in a large chat of the region last year. Zheleznyakova herself had nothing to do with this user and his message.

Marina Zheleznyakova considers the search in her flat an act of intimidation in connection with the latest events in the country. According to Zheleznyakova, the residents of the Maritime Territory  support the Yabloko’s stance against the war with Ukraine. On 25 February, the deputy chair of the regional Yabloko branch posted her photo on social networks with a poster “No to War!”. On 27 February, Yabloko members laid flowers at the memorial to the victims of political repression in Vladivostok in memory of the murdered opposition politician Boris Nemtsov. This, according to the Zheleznyakova, was the reason for the pressure on her by the security forces.

The first search was conducted in the flat of Marina Zheleznyakova a year ago. It was carried out as part of a criminal case on blocking roads during the protests on 23 January, 2021, in which she was a witness. Zheleznyakova was in a completely different place at the time of blocking the roads.

Detentions of Yabloko activists continue because of their anti-war stance. Over the past three days, police have detained at least 19 Yabloko members in Moscow, the Chelyabinsk, the Sverdlovsk, the Saratov, and the Samara regions and the Republic of Bashkortostan for their anti-war stance and actions, including Kristina Abramicheva, Chairperson of the Bashkirian branch of Yabloko, Anton Rubin Chairman of the Samara regional branch of Yabloko, and Yabloko Press Secretary Igor Yakovlev and his wife (https://eng.yabloko.ru/police-go-on-detaining-yabloko-activists-due-to-their-anti-war-stance/).