The administration of the VKontakte social media blocked the page of the Yabloko Federal Bureau member Alexander Yefimov by the decision of the Public Prosecutor General’s Office
Press Release, 29.11.2023
Photo: Alexander Yefimov’s page on VKontakte, if accessed without a VPN running “User blocked. This material; has been blocked on the territory of the Russian Federation by the decision of the Public Prosecutor General’s Office No 27-31-2023/Treb198-23 of 28.04.2023.
Alexander Yefimov’s page on the VKontakte social media was blocked without warning from the administration of the social network on 28 November; the decision of the Public Prosecutor General’s Office to block it was made on 28 April. Alexander Yefimov is unaware which of his posts could cause the blocking.
On 29 April, Yefimov received the first notification from the administration of the social network about the need to remove information “aimed at destabilisation of the socio-political situation in the Russian Federation”. At this moment, Yefimov, a member of the Volgograd branch of Yabloko, appealed the city court’s decision finding him guilty of “discrediting the army”. The politician published on his VKontakte page the UN data on the number of deaths in Donbass in 2021 and after the start of the “special operation”. This material, as well as several other posts, were removed by the administration. But the page was not blocked then.
Alexander Yefimov is going to send an inquiry about the reasons for the blocking to the VKontakte administration and the Public Prosecutor General’s Office. The politician will demand unblocking of his page in court.
It should be noted that after 24 February, 2022, eight pages of Yabloko members were blocked on VKontakte by decision of the Public Prosecutor General’s Office: the pages of deputies of the Legislative Assemblies Boris Vishnevsky (St. Petersburg) and Emilia Slabunova (Karelia), leaders of the regional branches of Yabloko of Lev Shlosberg (the Pskov region) , Anna Cherepanova (the Novgorod region) and Ruslan Zinatullin (Tatarstan), as well as party members Zhanna Shlosberg (the Pskov region), Alexei Manannikov (the Novosibirsk region), and Zufar Garipov (Tatarstan). In addition, the website of the Altai regional branch of the Yabloko party was blocked by decision of the Public Prosecutor General’s Office,.
Read more about persecution of Yabloko members since the start of the special military operation https://www.yabloko.ru/war-against-yabloko
Posted: November 29th, 2023 under Freedom of Speech, Governance, Human Rights, Judiciary, Russia-Ukraine relations, Yabloko's Regional Branches.