Press Release, 26.01.2021

Photo: Lev Shlosberg with his lawyer Tatyana Martynova in front of the building of the Pskov City Court / Photo by Lyudmila Savitskaya

Lev Shlosberg was fined 20,000 roubles for offering protesters of the action of 23 January in support of Alexei Navalny and political prisoners to go to Hyde Park, the place where all public gatherings do not need a notification or permission from the authorities. This is the lower margin of punishment uunder Article 20.2 Part 2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (“organizing or holding a public event without filing a notice with the authorities of holding a public event in accordance with the established procedure”). Lev Shlosberg was accused of organisation of an “illegal action”, as police reported about the procession of people from the monument to the victims of the revolution to the Pskov Hyde Park during the protest action in Pskov on 23 January. The politician intends to appeal the verdict in the court of appeal.

On the morning of January 26, the police reclassified the events of Pskov on January 23, which they charge Lev Shlosberg, member of the Yabloko party Federal Political Committee and MP of the Pskov Regional Assembly from Yabloko, with under Article 20.2 Part 2 (organisation of a public event without a permission of the authorities).

Earlier, administrative proceedings were instituted against the Lev Shlosberg under Article 20.2 Part 5 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (“violation by a participant of a public event of the established procedure for holding a rally, meeting, demonstration, procession or picketing”). There was no evidence in the case, so no protocol was drawn up, the police decided to conduct an administrative investigation.

The politician found this out at the police department, where he appeared on a summons to draw up a protocol of a violation. He was taken to the Pskov City Court from the police department.

The court hearings began at about 12.00 and ended at 16.00 with an hour and a half break. The case was considered by the judge of the Pskov City Court Sergei Paduchikh. Radio Liberty journalist Lyudmila Savitskaya was admitted to the trial.

The interests of Lev Shlosberg in the court were represented by the lawyer of  the Apology of Protest  NGO Tatyana Martynova, who had defended journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva in the high-profile case of alleged justification of terrorism by the journalist.

The court sentenced the parliamentarian to a fine of 20,000 roubles. The full decision of the court will be made on Friday, after which it will be appealed to the appellate instance.

Commenting on the court decision, Lev Shlosberg said: “After a three-hour trial, Judge of the Pskov City Court Sergei Paduchikh, found me guilty of organising an unpermitted public event, which took place, according to the police and the court, after I, being near the monument to the victims of the revolution, suggested to the participants to go to the Hyde Park, located 100 meters away, where public events can be held without notifying the authorities.

I demanded that the chief of staff of the Pskov Department of Internal Affairs give people the opportunity to go to the place prescribed by law, but this was also denied to people. That is, the offer to people to gather in a place protected by law and the requirement for the police to comply with the law is interpreted as an offense.

The court sentenced me to a fine of 20.000 roubles, that is, it applied the smallest punishment possible under Article 20.2 Part 2. Today in Russia this virtually means admitting a person’s innocence. I do not admit my guilt for inviting people to abide the law. The full decision of the court will be made on Friday, after which it will be appealed to the court of appeal. Any court decision by which an innocent person is found guilty cannot be recognised as lawful and fair.”

It should be noted that Lev Shlosberg was detained by the police near the Pskov Hyde Park on January 23 during the largest political protest action since December 2011. The action was held in solidarity with Alexei Navalny and in defence of freedoms. In Pskov, more than 1,000 people participated in the action.

In Pskov, the police detained more than 50 people and took them to three police departments. In Velikiye Luki, where a protest action of up to 100 people was also held, according to various sources, from 5 to 20 people were detained. However, there is no official information on the number of those detained in Velikiye Luki.

The police also filed a case of an administrative violation against Vladimir Zhilinsky, head of the Pskov branch of Golos (an NGO engaged in elections monitoring and observation) and also a member of the Regional Council of Pskov Yabloko, under Article 20.2 Part 2 for organising or holding a public event without filing, in accordance with the established procedure, a notification of the holding of a public event.

Over the past weekend the courts in Russia have already made 82 decisions on the appointment of administrative arrests, 52 on fines, five on compulsory work, two cases were returned to the police. At least 15 criminal cases were initiated.

It should be also noted that on the eve of the protest rallies, Yabloko members were arrested in Arkhangelsk and Yakutsk.