The authorities must abolish reprisals against the dissenting

Statement by the Yabloko Bureau, 28.02.2019

Photo: Andrei Morev, municipal deputy from Yabloko and head of minicipality.

The Moscow authorities lost the municipal elections in 2017 in a number of [Moscow] districts, and began systematically intimidate municipal deputies. Pressure on municipal deputies is openly criminal and includes attacks, damage to property, threats to life and health, initiation of unmotivated administrative and criminal cases.

Thus, in September 2018, unidentified persons smashed the car of Vitaly Tretyukhin, municipal deputy in the Pechatniki District, and left a pig’s head in it. In May 2018, the car of Anastasia Muralova, municipal deputy of the municipal district of Izmailovo, was covered with indelible paint. Also in May, [unidentified persons] broke a glass in the car of Nadezhda Zagordan, municipal deputy of the Izmailovo municipality, and in September 2018, a pig’s head with a knife stuck in it was thrown under the door of her mother. In October 2018, the report of Irina Kopkina, municipal deputy of the Strogino District, was removed from the mailboxes of residents, and before that unidentified persons punctured tires of her son’s car. Tires of the car of Yulia Galyamina, municipal deputy, were also cut.

Yury Volnov, municipal deputy in the Preobrazhenskoye District, was brought to criminal responsibility for an emotionally negative statement addressed to a deputy from the United Russia party. A pre-investigation check under the article on the justification of terrorism for publishing an article about [Ukrainian film director jailed in Russia] Oleg Sentsov is conducted against Andrei Morev, head of the Yakimanka Municipal District, and Viktor Kotov, municipal deputy of the Basmanny Municipal District.

Municipal deputies Alexei Alekseyev, Yevgeny Barkov and Alexander Andreyev were brought to administrative responsibility for holding meetings with residents of their districts, which the authorities compared with unauthorised rallies.

On the evening of 26 February, 2019, three unidentified persons attacked Ilya Svetikov, head of the municipality Kurkino. In January 2019, Kirill Chirkin, municipal deputy of the Lomonosovsky District, was taken to hospital after an attack against him. In 2018, municipal deputies Alexander Pishchalnikov, Elena Rusakova and Grigory Tolkachev were attacked at the meeting of the Council of Deputies of Troparevo-Nikulino, provocateurs attacked municipal deputy Anastasia Bryukhanova at public hearings in Shchukino in October 2018. Attempts to disrupt the meetings of the Council of Deputies were repeatedly made in the Yakimanka area.

There is no doubt that all these episodes are part of a single campaign, with the goal of depriving citizens of the vote and forcing deputies to vote on orders from the top. The policies of the Moscow authorities in this field represent an ongoing all-Russian trend towards complete subordination of local self-government to the executive authority. We believe that by such actions the authorities not only discredit themselves, but also demonstrate a disregard for the opinions and interests of citizens, who in 2017 elected deputies independent of the Mayor’s Office.

The Yabloko party demands to stop the prosecution of municipal deputies, investigate all the episodes of offenses committed against them. The authorities must abandon reprisals against the dissenting – absence of a dialogue with people and persecution of their legal representatives only leads to growing discontent and protests of citizens. The Moscow Mayor’s Office should ensure all conditions so that municipal deputies could exercise their powers.

Emilia Slabunova,

Yabloko Chair