Nikolai Rybakov: “I demand to stop police pressure on the leaders of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko and release all the detainees”.
Statement by the Yabloko Chairman, 24.05.2021
Photo from the Anna Cherepanova Facebook page
On Saturday, 22 May, the authorities of Novgorod (North-West Russia) carried out another police action targeted at the intimidation of civil society. The unlawful dispersal of the congress of municipal deputies from different Russian cities (Zemsky Congress) and the detention of its organisers correspond to the trend towards a general ban on mass political events in our country. The events in Novgorod became another proof that there is no constitutionally guaranteed freedom of assembly in Russia.
Among the detainees there is Viktor Shalyakin, Chairman of the local branch of the Yabloko party in Novgorod. Police pressure is exerted on Anna Cherepanova, deputy of the City Duma of Novgorod and member of the Yabloko Bureau, and her family. The methods used by the organisers of the intimidation action are demonstratively unlawful, which speaks of the police officers’ confidence in their impunity. As usual, the alleged measures to combat the coronavirus epidemic serve as a pretext for persecution.
It should be noted that police arbitrariness is gaining momentum. Only in the recent period, a number of unlawful actions have been committed against Yabloko party activists. Kirill Goncharov, a member of the Yabloko Bureau, and 16 volunteers of his campaign headquarters were detained in Moscow. Yabloko activist Polina Kuskova was also detained at a polling station in Saratov. Persecution of Sergei Mitrokhin, a Moscow City Duma deputy and a member of the Yabloko Political Committee, goes on.
All of this testify of the fact that a police state has finally been built in Russia and now nothing is holding back the Russian authorities from ruling the country with the help of force. Since 2000, the Yabloko party has been warning everyone who had illusions about Vladimir Putin’s coming into power in the country. Unfortunately, further developments have confirmed our predictions.
I demand an end to the police pressure on the leaders of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko, release all those detained in Novgorod, cancel the unlawful decisions and punish all those who committed unlawful actions against innocent people. Stop fighting political opponents under the guise of a pandemic.
Posted: May 24th, 2021 under Elections, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Governance, Human Rights, Regional and Local Elections 2020, Regional and Local Elections 2021, Regional policies and Local Self-Governing, The Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma, Yabloko's Regional Branches.