Press Release, 7.07.2022

Photo: Andrei Morev / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Andrei Morev, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Yabloko and the head of the Yakimanka urban district of in Moscow, was detained by police officers at the exit of the court, which found him guilty of “discrediting the army” and awarded him a fine of 50,000 roubles.

In the morning, unidentified people pasted a sticker with the Smart Voting symbols [the so-called Smart Voting was promoted by Alexei Navalny’s team asking to vote for any political parties, including all the pro-government  parliamentary parties, but for the ruling United Russia, in the 2021 parliamentary election many dissenting people voted “smartly” picking only the candidates listed by Navlany’s team, which led to the increase of mandates of communists-Stalinists in the parliament, none of the democrats managed to win a mandate] on the Morev’s car, and the police took Morev to the Yakimanka police station because of these symbols.

Morev links his persecution with his intention to take part in the Moscow municipal elections in September. Yesterday, the conference of the Moscow branch of Yabloko nominated the him as a Yabloko candidate for deputies in the city district of Yakimanka. In total, 224 candidates in 66 municipal districts will take part in the elections from the Yabloko party.

By law, those brought to administrative responsibility under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for “demonstration of extremist symbols”, and the Smart Voting logo was included in the list of extremist symbols, are deprived of their right to be elected for a period during which they are considered subjected to administrative punishment.

Earlier, Nikolai Kavkazsky, a member of the Regional Council of the Moscow Yabloko, spent ten days in a special detention centre under the same Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. Kavkazsky was also nominated as Yabloko candidate for the municipal elections in Moscow. Now the human rights activist is appealing the court’s decision, and until it comes into force, he plans to apply for registration as a candidate.

Read more about the persecution of Yabloko members after the start of the “special operation”.

Update as of 16:00.

Andrei Morev was released from the Yakimanka police station. The police drew up a protocol of an administrative offense on him under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. Morev, in turn, wrote a statement about the damage to the car.