Press Release, 3.07.2026

Photo: Yelena Perepelitsa / Photo from Yelena’s profile on Yandex.Maps

Today, 3 July, the Ostankinsky District Court of Moscow ordered a restraining measure of detention in custody for a period of two months for Yelena Perepelitsa, a 60-year-old Yabloko member detained the day before in a case concerning donations to a banned organisation (Article 282.3(1) of the Russian Criminal Code).

The question of the restraining measure was heard in a closed session: neither journalists nor members of the public were admitted to the courtroom.

Positive character references and sureties for Yelena Perepelitsa were submitted to the court by Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, Federal Bureau member Andrei Morev, and Moscow Yabloko Chairman Kirill Goncharov, who travelled to the Ostankinsky District Court with fellow party members to support Yelena. Each surety included a request for a restraining measure not involving deprivation of liberty.

The character reference submitted by Nikolai Rybakov states, among other things, that Yelena Perepelitsa heads the Association of Consulting Companies, took part in the design of the Olympic Village in Sochi, and “works professionally as a psychological counsellor for people in difficult family situations, is actively engaged in volunteer and charitable work, and takes part in the improvement of the Maryina Roshcha district”.

It should also be noted that Yelena Perepelitsa’s elderly 84-year-old mother is dependent on her.

Nevertheless, the court decided to place Yelena Perepelitsa in a pre-trial detention facility until 2 September. The court’s decision will be appealed, notes Olga Pelsh, Yelena’s lawyer.

“Yelena Perepelitsa is not a public politician or a parliamentary candidate, she is a rank-and-file party member who has spent years engaged in honest public work, including on electoral commissions. Yet she is being sent to a pre-trial detention facility. We will help by every means available,” said Kirill Goncharov, Chairman of Moscow Yabloko, on Friday.

It should be noted that Yelena Perepelitsa has been a Yabloko member since 2017, and served on Moscow electoral commissions of various levels from that same year, including as a member of the Maryina Roshcha territorial electoral commission.

On 2 July, the Bureau of Moscow Yabloko condemned the detention of their fellow party member in an urgent statement.

Yelena Perepelitsa’s detention is the latest episode in the criminal prosecution of Yabloko members. In recent years, 12 party members have already become defendants in criminal cases, including Deputy Chairmen Lev Shlosberg and Maxim Kruglov, journalist Mikhail Afanasyev, Kamchatka Yabloko leader Vladimir Yefimov, St.Petersburg activist Vasily Neustroyev, Ryazan Yabloko leader Konstantin Smirnov, lawyer and Kaliningrad Yabloko member Vladimir Sorokin, and others.