Sochi Electoral Commission has "lost" documents of the top candidate of "YABLOKO - United Democrats"

Press Release, August 31, 2012.

United Democrats” list submitted all the required documents for registration in the elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnodar Region. The receipt of the documents was confirmed by the Commission. However, yesterday the web-site of the Electoral Commission published a list of candidates who had submitted their documents to the commission and Andrei Rudomakha was not in that list. Yet YABLOKO has got no answer from the Commission explaining this. The Krasnodar branch of YABLOKO will be investigating this sudden "loss" of documents.

Andrei Rudomakha, leader of the Krasnodar branch of YABLOKO and top candidate in the list of “YABLOKO - United Democrats” has been also nominated to run for the Sochi single-mandate electoral district No 48, where he should compete with Viktor Teplyakov, Sochi Deputy Secretary of the Political Council of the ruling United Russia party...

YABLOKO leader meets the leader of Alleanza Liberali, Malta

Press Release, August 31, 2012.

On August 28, 2012, YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin met with John Zammit, leader and founder of Alleanza Liberali, Malta. The meeting was also attended by Galina Mikhalyova, Deputy Chair of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO and the Executive Secretary of the Political Committee and Olga Radayeva, YABLOKO International Secretary.

John Zammit spoke about the current political situation in Malta and the activities of Alleanza Liberali. The party was founded in 2006. Today Alleanza Liberali has an observer status in the ELDR and is going to become a full member of the ELDR this year. Alleanza Liberali focuses on fight against corruption, protection of civil rights and freedoms, including fight against restrictions imposed on the citizens of Malta by the Catholic Church (e.g. bans on divorce and abortions). The party has been also active in education and environmental protection...

Sergei Mitrokhin to Governor Tkachyov: after a terrible flood in South Russia money should be allotted to creation of the alerting system, not only to cleaning of rivers’ beds

Press Release, August 30, 2012.

YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin said that measures scheduled by the regional administration for prevention of floods in the Krasnodar Territory are insufficient. Yesterday Governor Alexander Tkachyov announced that regional administration was going to allot 3 billion rubles for cleaning and deepening of rivers’ beds, however, he did not say anything about creation of a system which would alert the population in case of a coming flood...

...YABLOKO has been demanding resignation of Alexander Tkachyov who bears full responsibility for the consequences of the tragic July floods leading to numerous human victims. The party is seeking a thorough investigation into the Governor's actions.

YABLOKO’s environmentalist Suren Gazaryan faces several years of imprisonment due to a new case launched against him

North Caucasus Environmetal Watch. Press Release, August 30, 2012.

Russian authorities have launched a new criminal probe against environmental activist Suren Gazaryan after he led an inspection of a public shore near what we believe is President Vladimir Putin's Black Sea dacha for violations. The proceedings are an attempt to stop the activist's efforts to expose illegal palaces built on public funds or land and cutting off access to a public shore...

Suren Gazaryan is required by police to attend a session of questioning regarding the alleged death threat on September 4. He can be kept in custody before trial which has turned into a common practice for persecution of Russian opposition activists.

Obituary of a true European liberal
ELDR News, August 29, 2012.

It is with great sadness that we announce the recent death of one of the truly early Europeans, Prof. Dr. Horst Günter Krenzler on July 20, 2012 at the age of 79.

Prof. Krenzler had a distinguished career in the European Commission - till 1996 - as Director General for External Relations. Afterwards, he taught International and European Law at the Munich Ludwig Maximilian University...

Human rights activists Valery Borschyov and Andrei Babushkin are among the first candidates to the new Human Rights Council under President of Russia

Interfax, August 27, 2012.

On Monday the working group of the Human Right Council began examination of CVs of new candidates to the Council.

Renowned human rights activists Valery Borschyov, member of YABLOKO’s Political Committee, and Andrei Babushkin, member of YABLOKO Bureau, were among the first persons whose CVs were approved and thus will participate in the Internet consultation...

The working group will examine about 190 CVs of the candidates. The CVs were forwarded from non-profit organisations, Russian Ombudsman and regional ombudsmen.

According to the presidential decree of 2011, the Council will comprise 40 members.

Sergei Mitrokhin: "Vladimir Putin's promise to evacuate residents from the flooding area in Krymsk has remained unfulfilled"

Press Release, August 26, 2012.

On August 25, YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin held a series of meetings with the residents of Krymsk area which suffered a terrible flood in July.

The meetings had to identify the cases of non-fulfillment by the authorities of their obligations to the residents who lost their property in the flood. People reported red tape in getting compensation for lost property and money for repairs, continuous “losing” by officials of their documents submitted in order to get a compensation and small size of compensations insufficient for repairs. The residents resented such bureaucratic formalism when people were denied compensation...

The police tried to debar Mitrokhin from meeting the residents. Also several cars with representatives of local administration followed YABLOKO leader at the meetings. At the end Mitrokhin managed to make the local officials cooperate in the solution of the problems of the Krymsk residents.

Yavlinsky to Court: Cancel the verdict on Pussy Riot
LI News Bulletin, Issue 297, August 23, 2012
Commenting on the two year sentence given to the Russian Pussy Riot punk group, LI 2004 Prize for Freedom laureate and former leader of Yabloko (LI Full Member), Grigory Yavlinsky said: “The political protest by Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevich has in fact very serious grounds. It is a protest against election fraud conducted to usurp power, and against censorship in the media, the lies and corruption, hypocrisy and injustice. The long term of imprisonment of the girls, forcing the atmosphere of unforgiveness and vengeance, does much more harm to the Russian society than their outrage in the temple.” Yabloko has condemned the controversial trial of the three members of the Russian band since their arrest on charges of hooliganism and religious hostility after performing a protest song against President Vladimir Putin at Moscow's main Cathedral. Yavlinsky expressed hope that the Russian High Court will cancel the wrong verdict and set the girls free as this will correspond both to the interests of the country and the goals of the Church.

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Sergei Mitrokhin demands from the interior to investigate the lawfulness of policemen’s actions during detention of Garry Kasparov

Press Release, August 21, 2012.

YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin applied to Anatoly Yakunin, head of the Moscow interior, demanding to conduct official investigation of the lawfulness of policemen’s actions during detention of Garry Kasparov, Russian opposition figure and ex World Chess Champion, by Khamovnichesky court during the Pussy Riot trial. In his appeal Mitrokhin refers to the documentary ‘The Term’.

The authors of the documentary filmed the detention of the ex World Chess Champion. "Obviously, the police had no reasons to arrest Garry Kasparov," Mitrokhin wrote in the letter. Indeed, during a few seconds before his arrest Garry Kasparov was talking to reporters and was not breaking the law. Garry Kasparov was detained by Khamovnichesky in Moscow on August17 during the hearing of the court verdict on the controversial action by punk band Pussy Riot at the Christ the Savior Cathedral...

In his letter YABLOKO leader also responded to the initiative of Anton Tsvetkov, head of public organization "Russian Officers", who had proposed to introduce criminal liability for non-obeying police. According to Mitrokhin, another measure should be introduced toughening the liability for policemen for lying. "First of all police officers must be punished for lying. In can tell that when I or my colleagues were brought to a police department there was not a single case when policemen did not use lies to achieve their goals. Therefore it is necessary to introduce a very large penalty for policemen for lying with their subsequent disqualification from the service," Mitrokhin told to Interfax on Tuesday.

Grigory Yavlinsky on the Pussy Riot case
Grigory Yavlinsky’s Live Journal, August 17, 2012

...Organizing the lawsuit in the form that we have the misfortune to watch, the authorities are aiming at intimidation.

This is not good for the country, and it is harmful to the Church. Intimidation is not the solution. Perhaps fear may drive the protest depthward for some time, but it will not disappear, and at some circumstances it will come to the surface in a much more radical forms that are more dangerous for the society. This may be compared with a fire in the peat fields which goes only depthwards when they are trying to put it out not correctly, and at hot weather it comes powerfully to the surface as even a greater fire.

From the legal point of view, the court should have determined whether the girls’ action had caused considerable harm to the society and whether their action had displayed the signs of public danger in the sense of a criminal law, and base their conclusions not on manipulative reasons...

YABLOKO activists conducted pickets for resignation of Governor of the Krasnodar Territory Alexander Tkachyov

Press Release, August 3, 2012.

Today YABLOKO activists conducted a series of pickets for the resignation of Alexander Tkachyov, Governor of the Krasnodar Territory. The action was held by the Permanent Mission of the Krasnodar Territory in Moscow. YABLOKO activists were standing in turn by the Mission with slogans “Tkachyov, go!”

“After the tragic flood in Krymsk, [South Russia], Tkachyov have to resign. The liability for the failure to alert the residents of the coming flood lies directly on the government of the Krasnodar Territory. I am ready to stand here 24 hours a day until Tkachyov leaves post,” told Sergei Sokolov, participant of the action and the deputy of Municipal Council Konkovo...

Yabloko condemns controversial Pussy Riot Trial
LI News Bulletin, Issue 294, August 2, 2012
Yabloko's leader Sergei Mitrokhin (LI Full Member, Russia) voiced his concerns that the violation committed by Pussy Riot members does not constitute grounds for keeping them in custody. He said: “The developments demonstrate once again that we can hardly speak about any genuine liberalization of law-enforcement in Russia. Considering the political roots of the incident we cannot rule out that such tough measures are a mere revenge of the authoritarian state who are using juridical mechanisms as a reprisal instrument used on personal motives.” In a statement condemning the arrest of three female members of the Russian band “Pussy Riot”, Yabloko expressed clear disagreement with the charges of hooliganism and religious hostility brought against them, calling on the authorities for their immediate release, especially since two of them are mothers of small children. The members of the group were arrested in February after performing a protest song against President Vladimir Putin at Moscow's main Cathedral. If convicted the women could spend up to seven years in prison.

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Was Russen auf die Straße treibt

Weser Kurier, 27.07.2012.

Von Solveig Rixmann

In Russland protestieren Bürgerinnen und Bürger seit Monaten gegen ihre Regierung. Trotz erheblicher Gegenwehr der Regierungspartei "Einiges Russland" und obwohl die Polizei gegen die Demonstranten vorgeht, verstummen die kritischen Stimmen nicht. Die Bevölkerung ist unzufrieden und Putins überdrüssig – wie Galina Michaleva während der Russland-Tage der Uni Bremen berichtete...

YABLOKO office opens in Novouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region

Press Release, August 1, 2012.

YABLOKO office opened in Novouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region. Maxim Petlin, head of the Sverdlovsk Region branch of YABLOKO, Galina Mikhlyova, YABLOKO Bureau member, and Kirill Gontcharov, leader of the Youth YABLOKO in Moscow, visited the office.

Vladimir Plyusnin, well-known environmentalist and chair of the YABLOKO branch in Pervouralsk, greeted the guests in the new office. Plyusnin told the guests about the economic and political situation in the city on the threashold of elections to the local Council on October 14.

YABLOKO’s Regional Conference which will take place on August 5 has to nominate party candidates to run in the elections. It is expected that well-known public figures in the city, businessmen and local party activists will be included into YABLOKO’s list.

YABLOKO: Governor Tkachyov and government of the Krasnodar region should be held liable for the tragedy in Krymsk

Press Release, July 31, 2012.

Governor of the Krasnodar Territory Alexander Tkachyov, his deputies and officials of the regional Emergency Ministry Department should be included into suspects in investigation of the causes of flooding in Krymsk, South Russia. Such a statement was made by YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin at today's press conference, which drew up the first results of YABLOKO's investigation of the causes of the flood.

Activists from the North Caucasus Environmental Watch, Andrei Rudomakha, leader of the Krasnodar branch of YABLOKO, Yugeny Vitishko, chairman of the Tuapse branch of YABLOKO and Yugeny Pimkin, resident of Volgograd region whose son died in a flood in Gelendzhik trying to save people, also participated in the press-conference. According to YABLOKO's activists, a natural calamity coupled with negligence of the governments lead to such a large number of casualties in Krymsk. No system for public notification in case of emergency had been created in the region prone to flooding. Possible negative consequences of economic activities in the region that may lead to flooding had been also neglected. The governments learned nothing from the experience of the disaster in 2002, when a flood in Krymsk killed 62 people...