Press Release, 19.02.2018

On 18 February, over 100 St. Petersburg activists participated in a mass picket against torture and political reprisals organised by the Yabloko party by the monument to the victims of Stalin’s reprisals – the Solovetsky Stone.

Boris Vishnevsky, leader of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg; Nikolai Rybakov; Deputy Chairman of Yabloko; members of the Yabloko Bureau Anatoly Golov and Alexander Kobrinsky; Vitold Zalesski, member of the Board of the Memorial society; former Soviet political prisoners Yuly Rybakov, Alexander Skobov and Vyacheslav Dolinin; journalist Daniil Kotsiubynsky; human rights activists Dinar Idrisov and Grigory Mikhnov-Voitenko; Yana Teplitskaya, member of the St. Petersburg Public Monitoring Commission, as well as activists of the Solidarity movement, “Open Russia” and supporters of Alexei Navalny participated in the action.

Human rights defender Yuly Rybakov in his speech urged citizens not to be indifferent to information about torture by the FSB (Federal Security Service).

“One can not remain silent, history has shown that indifference leads to tragedies on a national scale,” the human rights activist said.

Boris Vishnevsky, leader of the Yabloko faction in St.Petersburg parliament, also expressed his confidence that there were many people in St. Petersburg who are concerned about torture by law enforcement agencies, but the problem was that they were keeping silent.

“I assure you that if tomorrow 100,000 people in Petersburg demand to stop political reprisals, torture and attacks on political activists, our “dear” law enforcement agencies and the prosecutor’s office would behave quite differently,” he said.

“We see that they have been rapidly building a Stalinist state in our country, where people are cogs in the wheel, dust underfoot, and where law enforcement bodies are never mistaken,” Boris Vishnevsky added.

Anatoly Golov, member of the Yabloko Bureau, told to all who gathered that the Yabloko faction brought to the St. Petersburg parliament a bill on the video recording of all contacts between citizens and law enforcement agencies.

“We will seek adoption of this law, this technology is not very costly, but human life and dignity are much more expensive,” he said.

Journalist Daniil Kotsyubinsky stressed that society must resist torture and reprisals.

“The authorities are testing us for strength: will we oppose torture or be frightened. If they see that we are not afraid, then they will slow down for a while,” the journalist said.

“The fact that today there are not so many people [participating in the action] is not a problem, it would be a disaster, if no one came. For a picket, 100 people is quite a figure, but we must fight further,” Kotsyubinsky stressed.

Grigory Mikhnov-Voitenko, member of the St. Petersburg Human Rights Council, noted the main common fault of the Russian society was indifference.

Yana Teplitskaya, member of the St. Petersburg Public Monitoring Commission, who was one of the first to publicize information about the torture of St. Petersburg anarchists by the FSB, stressed that they should be immediately released.

Alexander Kobrinsky, Yabloko Bureau member, noted that political reprisals can only be stopped by active social resistance, and asked the media to pay close attention to information about torture.

He also conveyed to the picketers the words of the candidate for the presidency of Russia Grigory Yavlinsky, that law enforcement officers who use torture should be placed in prison.

Soviet dissident Alexander Skobov noted that the repressive bodies of the Russian Federation became more cruel than even during the late USSR, because then KGB officers were proud that they did not apply physical measures to those accused in political crimes.

Human rights defender Dinar Idrisov said that hideous Middle Ages were hidden behind the democratic façade, which the modern Russian authorities are trying to demonstrate to the world and part of Russian society, as people  like in the Middle Ages were forced to confess under torture to crimes they had not commit.

Vitold Zaleski, member of the Board of the Memorial society, noted that the country had been sliding into totalitarianism.

“It is important that we all disseminate information about what we have heard. Those torturing people should be removed from power, the law should be changed, so that only the facts are valid in court, and not confessions,” the human rights activist said.

In conclusion, Boris Vishnevsky, leader of the Yabloko faction, said, “I hope to live until such times when we will not need to go out to such pickets.”

On 12 February, the Yabloko party published a statement on the inadmissibility of torture and reprisals,  and the St. Petersburg Yabloko initiated a mass picket for Russia without torture and political reprisals.

The statement signed by Emilia Slabunova, Yabloko Chairperson, and Boris Vishnevsky, leader of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, marked that several attacks on political and civil activists occurred in St. Petersburg at the end of January. At the same time, information was received about abduction and torture of Russian citizens by officers of the FSB in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region.