Alexander Shishlov: “The Legislation Committee of the St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly is being turned into a political censorship committee”
Press Release, 13.10.2023
Photo: The Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg / Photo by the Press Service of the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg
The Legislation Committee of the St. Petersburg city parliament removed two initiatives of the Yabloko faction from the agenda of the plenary session at a meeting on Friday, 13 October. Both of them concerned the protection of the rights of voters and parliamentary minorities.
The first draft guaranteed representation of all factions in the committees of the Legislative Assembly. Now there has been no representatives of Yabloko, for example, for the second convocation already.
Another initiative is related to changes in the regulations of the Legislative Assembly. It proposes that the issues included in the parliamentary agenda by the faction must be considered at the plenary session. The changes will prohibit excluding issues from the agenda without the consent of the faction which tabled them. This provision is also aimed at protecting voters represented by the parliamentary minority.
Deputy Boris Zverev proposed excluding Yabloko’s initiatives from the agenda. He justified this by the fact that the Committee on Legislation had already considered these projects and decided to recommend that the Legislative Assembly not support them. Zverev was supported by seven out of the nine committee members, one voted against, and one abstained.
This decision of the Committee has no legal basis and is an act of political censorship, the head of the Yabloko faction, Alexander Shishlov, said at the Committee meeting.
“There is no need to replace the plenary session with the Committee on Legislation. The committee expressed its advisory opinion on our initiatives, and we have already heard it. But the final decision must be made by the plenary session – by all deputies of the Legislative Assembly after a public discussion. You are turning the Legislation Committee into a political censorship committee,” Shishlov said.
Shishlov also assured that the faction would directly submit these projects for consideration at the plenary session.
Posted: October 13th, 2023 under Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, YABLOKO's faction in St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly, Yabloko's Regional Branches.