Press Release, 5.06.2020

Photo: Arrest of Maxim Kruglov

The Yabloko faction of the Moscow City Duma demands immediate admission of Yabloko deputies from the head of the Moscow police chief Oleg Baranov. An official letter of this was signed by Maxim Kruglov, Chairman of the faction, and was sent to the police department in Moscow today, June 5. The deputies intend to get explanations from the general on the unlawful detentions of city residents during single pickets (that do not require any permission from the authorities and are not a mass action so do not violate the quarantine measures) outside the building of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which took place on May 28.

The deputies of the faction indicate in their letter, that the actions of the police violated the constitutional right of citizens to freedom of expression and freedom of speech, guaranteed by Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. In addition, Sergey Mitrokhin and Maxim Kruglov, Yabloko’s deputies in the Moscow City Duma, were detained along with others, despite the fact that they presented their deputy ID cards to the police. Such actions by the police grossly violate Article 15 of the city law on the status of a deputy of 13 July, 1994. The police also detained other members of the Yabloko party, and two heads of the municipal districts of Yakimanka and Gagarinsky – Andrei Morev and Yelena Rusakova.

Photo: Arrest of Maxim Kruglov

“In an emergency, an epidemic, it is extremely importnat that the executive authorities are controlled by the representative authority, that is, actually, by citizens,” Maxim Kruglov, Chairman of the Yabloko faction, said. “This is a matter of public trust, without which the situation can quickly get out of balance. Oleg Baranov, head of the Moscow police, must explain in detail the actions of his staff. We intend to get his explanation and make it public.”

It should be noted that pickets by Petrovka 38 were held by politicians, journalists, and activists initially in defence of blogger Vladimir Vorontsov, who was exposing corruption in the police and was detained on dubious charges, and later in support of Ilya Azar, journalist of Novaya Gazeta and municipal deputy, who started picketing in support of Vorontsov and was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest for a single picket.

Photo: Arrest of Kirill Gontcharov, Deputy Chair of the Moscow branch of Yabloko