Press Release, 20.04.2022

Photo: Lyubov Zhiltsova / Photo by pskov.yabloko.ru

On 25 February, Lyubov Zhiltsova, a deputy of the Palkinsky District Assembly in the Pskov Region from Yabloko, published on her personal page on the VKontakte socail network her photo with a sheet of paper with a slogan “No ** ***”. On 18 April, police officers came to her house in the village of Slopygino, Palkinsky District, and drew up an administrative protocol of offense against her for “discrediting the armed forces” (Article 20.3.3 Part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

In her explanation, Lyubov Zhiltsova indicated that in this way she “expressed her attitude to the war as a phenomenon, and not to the actions of the Russian troops,” but this phrase was not included in the protocol. Instead, there appeared the standard wording for such cases: “expressed her position and attitude to the special operation of the Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine”.

“I have no words when such things happen. Why is the phrase “No ** ***” banned in our country? There is freedom of speech and freedom of thought [guaranteed by the Constitution]. Why can’t I say what I think? I understood how it could end when people were grabbed for the phrase “Thou shalt not kill,” but I didn’t delete the photo from my page: I don’t see this as a threat to either the state or the armed forces,” Lyubov Zhiltsova said.

The date of the trial in the Palkinsky District Court has not been appointed yet. Lyubov Zhiltsova will be defended by lawyer Vladimir Danilov.

Lyubov Zhiltsova is a member of the Yabloko party. She has been working as a mathematics teacher at the Kharlapkovskaya primary school in the Palkinsky district for more than 30 years.

From 2010 to 2015,  Lyubov Zhiltsova was a deputy of the rural settlement Palkinskaya Volost of the Palkinsky District. From October 2015 to October 2016, she was a deputy of the Pskov Regional Assembly of Deputies from Yabloko (by the decision of the Bureau of the Pskov Yabloko, she was given the mandate of a deputy after Lev Shlosberg was deprived of the status of a deputy). Since 2017, she has been a deputy of the Palkinsky District Assembly from Yabloko.

On 18 April, the Pskov City Court fined the leader of the Pskov Yabloko Lev Shlosberg for posting a fragment of the First Channel broadcast with Marina Ovsyannikova’s action for 32,000 roubles, and Zhanna Shlosberg, his wife, a cardiologist, a Yabloko party member, for a photograph in an embroidered shirt and the Ukrainian national wreath from flowers with yellow and blue ribbons and a piece of paper that says “No ** ***!” and commentaries. (https://eng.yabloko.ru/lev-shlosberg-fined-32000-roubles-for-posting-a-video-with-the-protest-action-of-marina-ovsyannikova-on-channel-one/ )

Similar accusations of “discrediting the armed forces” were brought by the police to Nikolai Kuzmin, a deputy of the Zavelichenskaya Volost from Yabloko and a member of the Bureau of the Pskov Yabloko.

In total, since the beginning of the “special operation”, administrative protocols for “discrediting the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation” have been drawn up against ten members of the Yabloko party. Seven people received fines from 30,000 to 60,000 roubes, three Yabloko members are awaiting trials.

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