The Tula regional branch of the YABLOKO party expresses its
deep concern with criminal prosecution of deputy of the Tula
City Duma from our party Vladimir TImakov [launched under
a pretext of a libel case].
Timakov gave his assessment of the Governor’s work at his
post.
Actually Timakov’s statements are based on his believes,
and, in our view, there are no grounds for criminal prosecution
in our opinion no. The fact that the Investigation Committee
with the Public Prosecutor's Office in the Tula region three
times refused [the Governor] in launching a criminal case
for the lack of the elements of crime [in such criticism]
is one more proof of this.
In our opinion, this constitutes a demonstrative political
"bashing" of a dissenting oppositional politician
and journalist so that to force him stop his activities and
give up his believes.
We think that it is unacceptable to persecute a person for
his believes and demand the following:
- stop criminal prosecution of Vladimir Timakov;
- transfer the trial to another region so that to ensure
an impartial decision.
We shall further oppose these negative developments by all
lawful means available to us at present. This statement should
be regarded as our public appeal to the federal leaders of
the party and the federal authorities and is also targeted
at drawing close attention to the process and prevention of
any violations of the law.
The Tula regional branch of YABLOKO
See also:
Freedom
of Speech
Human
Rights
| 