Statement by the Moscow branch of YABLOKO Youth, 08.12.2015

On December 7, a precedent was set within the Russian legal system – the court passed the sentence against civil activist Ilgar Dadin for participating in four pickets, three of them were one-person pickets [according to the law, one-person picketing do not need authorisation]. On the one hand, three years of imprisonment is a too severe sentence. On the other hand, everybody is complaining that courts in Russia are dependent, but Basmanny court refuted this statement by charging the activist with three years of imprisonment though the Prosecutor’s Office asked for two years. As a rule, the court gives a milder punishment than the prosecution suggests.

We claim that Ildar Dadin is absolutely innocent. The court should have offered apologies for keeping him under house arrest and acquit him of all the charges. But instead the court violated the Constitution by breaking the rights for freedom of speech and assembly. Moreover, the article with which the activist was charged is anticonstitutional since a person cannot be brought to responsibility for one and the same violation twice.

U ntil the appeal against the court decision will be considered the civil society has the chance to influence the situation by expressing protest against the sentence to the activist. We all realise that the authoritarian regime will be strengthening and persecuting its political opponents. If we miss the chance to protect political prisoners and fight for our rights now, later this possibility will be taken away for us once and for all.

Free Ildar Dadin!
The Regional council of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO Youth