Press Release, 17.09.2016

On 24 of September the Pskov Regional Assembly will attempt to illegally deprive Lev Shlosberg*, leader of the Pskov branch of YABLOKO, of his mandate. Deputy Governor Maxim Zhavoronkov has already made a statement that there were grounds for depriving Shlosberg of the mandate.

Shlosberg is accused in representation in court of the interests of the organisation Center of Social Engineering “Revival”, of which he was the founder. The legal side of the matter is simple: the court did not rule out that Lev Shlosberg’s representation of the interests of the NGO was against the law. The federal law does not stipulate for termination of the powers of a deputy for participation in a trial.

The political side of the case is even more transparent. Official documents of the investigation published recently and interviews of persons involved make the following opinion reasonable for many people: “Governor Andrei Turchak is the one who ordered beating of journalist Oleg Kashin.” And the Governor has not commented on the charges against him.

In this situation, Mr. Turchak has been trying to deprive his key political platform of political tribune.

We are confident that Mr. Turchak will not escape the responsibility, political responsibility inclusive.

The YABLOKO party demands from the Russian President to dismiss [Governor] Andrei Turchak in connection with the loss of confidence.

Sergei Mitrokhin,

Chairman of the YABLOKO party

*Lev Shlosberg is a renowned Russian journalist who was the first to disclose the Russian losses in Ukraine and was severely beaten right after the publication. Chair of the Pskov branch of YABLOKO, which has been demonstrating very good results in elections of all levels in the region. In the recent elections on 13 September YABLOKO obtained 17 mandates in elections in two districts of the region.