Press Release, 14.04.2021

Photo: Anna Cherepanova /Photo by the Press Service of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko

The police handed a summon to Anna Cherepanova, Chair of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko and deputy of the Novgorod Duma. Cherepanova got  a notification to come to the police department where an administrative protocol will be drawn up on her under Article 20.2 Part 2 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (Organisation or holding of a public event without filing a notice of a public event in the prescribed manner). Police claims were caused by a rally in memory of murdered opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, which took place in Novgorod’s “Hyde Park” (a specially designated place where holding a rally does not require any notifications of the authorities) on 27 February.

The summon was delivered to Cherepanova on 13 April, two hours after the Governor of the Novgorod Region, Andrei Nikitin, reported the deputies of the Novgorod Regional Duma. Chair of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko Anna Cherepanova spoke after the Governor, she told of what was happening in the region and gave unsatisfactory assessment to the policies of the Governor.

Anna Cherepanova stresses that she considers the actions of the police to be an attempt to intimidate her before the upcoming elections.

“It is a kind of madness to open a case for holding a public action without notification, when in fact the notification was submitted, and the Mayor’s Office, law enforcement officers and the court know that. Involvement of law enforcement agencies in the political struggle is categorically unacceptable,” activists of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko note.

According to the police, it was a violation that Anna Cherepanova published a post that the Novgorod branch of Yabloko submitted to the Novgorod administration a notification of a rally and procession in memory of Boris Nemtsov that had to take place on 27 February. The authorities refused to give their approval of the actions and the memorial rally was held in the “Hyde Park” on the Gzen River embankment, where, according to the law, public events for up to 100 people do not require any notification of the local government. About 70 people came to the rally on 27 February.

Activists of the regional branch of the party emphasise that the rally in memory of Boris Nemtsov was organised and conducted not by citizen Anna Cherepanova, but by the Novgorod regional branch of the Yabloko party and the Chair of the branch, Anna Cherepanova, as an official. The legality of holding a rally in memory of Boris Nemtsov with up to 100 participants without notifying the local authorities was confirmed by the decision of the Novgorod District Court, as well as the commentary of the Mayor’s Office on the claim of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko.