Press Release, 02.09.2014

YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin forwarded an appeal to head of the Kaliningrad Regional Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Evgeny Martynov demanding to file a criminal case against those who beat the participants of the Peace March which took place in Kaliningrad and to take the case under personal control.

Unknown young men attacked YABLOKO member Victor Gorbunov and the assistant of a deputy of the Kaliningrad region Duma Andrei Bogdanov after the action (Peace March) was finished on September 21.

Gorbunov was severely beaten by a flock of unknown young men, fell unconscious and was hospitalized with brain concussion.

Bogdanov managed to escape for a short period of time since he got into a car which was passing by. He tried to ask for help at one of the apartment blocks at Baltiyskaya Street but an unknown man attacked him.

According to Bogdanov, a car of a security company “Berkut” stopped by the entrance hall where he was and a man came out and attacked him. The man threatened with bodily harm if the action (Peace March) would take place again.

“Taking the circumstances of the attack into consideration, there are grounds to suspect that the unlawful actions against the participants of the action including Gorbunov and Bogdanov had been planned”, runs in Mitrokhin’s application.

This way the day before the Peace March the citizens of Kaliningrad received mass texting presumedly from the Cossack community chief Evgeny Labudin calling to gether up to beat “those bastards”.

What is more, there were provocations against the participants of the March during the action and after it was over the organized gangs followed the activists. All these contain vestige of confederacy.

“Such an outstanding case of lawlessness and violence against the peaceful citizens obviously in connection with their political and public stance should be investigated carefully and the guilty should be brought to responsibility”, stated Sergei Mitrokhin.

YABLOKO leader emphasized that the For human rights group was the first to take up this case not the law enforcement.

Not there’s no information on the investigation of the case which shows that it doesn’t take place.

Sergei Mitrokhin demands to file a criminal case under part 2 Article 213 of the Criminal Code of Russia, take the case under personal control and commit the workers of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Regional Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to carry preliminary investigation of the case.