Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
Photo: Konstantin Markelov, Rector of Astrakhan State University/ photo from the official website of Astrakhan State University
Chairman of the Yabloko party Nikolai Rybakov sent an appeal to Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education, as well as Vladimir Filippov, Chairman of the Higher Attestation Commission, demanding to check the Ph.D. thesis of Rector of Astrakhan State University Konstantin Markelov for plagiarism. In case the plagiarism discovered by Dissernet in cofimed, Rybakov urges to deprive Markelov of his academic degree.
In the photo: Marina Zheleznyakova / Photo from the personal page on Facebook
Yabloko Party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov sent an official letter to Roman Panteleyev, Public Prosecutor of the Maritime Territory, demanding to stop the persecution of party members in Vladivostok – Marina Zheleznyakova, Chair of the Maritime Territory regional branch of the Yabloko Party, and party member Maxim Khozyaykin.
In the early morning of February 6, 2021, police officers with weapons broke into the apartments of two party members. They unreasonably and disproportionately used brute force and beat family members during conducting searches. Police officers tried to find information carriers that would contain photos or videos of peaceful rallies. Neither Zheleznyakova nor Khozyaikin offered resistance to the police officers. On the contrary, both Yabloko members provided access to all premises. But even in spite of this, both our party members and their family members were subjected to violence and humiliation: the police broke the head of Zheleznyakova’s husband, and police officers rummaged in the underwear in the bedroom of Khozyakin’s minor daughter. After a search of Khozyakin’s apartment, which was accompanied by constant use of force and psychological pressure, the activist was taken to the police station for interrogation.
Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov sent an official letter to the Public Prosecutor of St. Petersburg Sergei Litvinenko demanding that he take measures to cancel the punishment imposed upon a citizen with deaf dumbness.
Yevgeny Agafonov was detained during a protest in St. Petersburg on January 31, 2021. According to the security officers, a citizen with almost complete deaf dumbness who is physically unable to speak or hear, shouted slogans and ignored the verbal demands of the police officers. That is, the person was actually punished for what he could not do due to his disabilities.
Yabloko Chairman told to the Russian Perviy Kanal (Channel One) and NTV television channels, as well as in recent interviews to the Portuguese radio TSF and the Kurdish channel RUDAW, that the main reason for the demonstrations in Moscow and other Russian cities was not the Alexei Navalny case, but the political situation in the country.
In Kazan, the opposition managed to receive the consent of the authorities for a rally “against detentions and repressions and for the changes in the electoral laws for the State Duma elections”. The rally will take place in the centre of Kazan, opposite the Kazan Kremlin, on February 14. The rally will begin at 12:00.
The organisers of the rally are Ruslan Zinatulli, Chairman of the Tatarstan branch of Yabloko, Marcel Shamsutdinov from PARNAS and Vladimir Kolodtsev, a representative of the Left Front.
In the photo: Marina Zheleznyakova / Photo from the personal page on Facebook
In Vladivostok, police officers searched the apartment of Marina Zheleznyakova, Deputy Chair of the regional branch of Yabloko in the Maritime Territory.
In the photo: Yana Zenkina / Yana Zenkina’s personal page in the Vkontakte social network
The Leninsky District Court of Tambov sentenced Yana Zenkina, Chair of the Tambov regional branch of the Yabloko party, to a fine of 20,000 roubles. A case was initiated against the leader of the regional branch of the party on an administrative violation under Article 20.2 Part 2 of the Administrative Code (organisation of mass simultaneous stay and (or) movement of citizens in public places, entailing a violation of public order).
In the photo: Daria Bolshakova /Photo by the Press Service of the Kaliningrad branch of Yabloko
The judge of the Central District Court of the city of Kaliningrad found Daria Bolshakova, a member of the Kaliningrad branch of the Yabloko party, guilty of committing a repeated violation of Article 20.2 Part 8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (violation of the established procedure for organising or holding a meeting, rally, demonstration, procession or picketing) and sentenced her to a fine of 150,000 thousand roubles. Actually the Yabloko activist was convicted of a single picket which do not require any coordination or permission from the authorities in accordance with Russian laws. The trial took place almost immediately after Darya Bolshakova’s three-day arrest in the Chernyakhovsk detention centre for participation in an unpermitted action on January 23.
In the photo: Andrei Babushkin / the Yabloko party Press Service
On February 10, Yabloko will host a Zoom-lecture by Andrei Babushkin, human rights defender and member of the Yabloko Party Bureau, “How to behave during an arrest”. The lecture will start at 19:00.
The lecture will cover the issues one needs to know if detained by the police: the rights of the detained, the rights of the police, drawing up of a protocol, the rights of a lawyer, what to expect from courts, charges and possible punishments.
Andrei Babushkin is a member of the Yabloko Bureau, member of the Presidium of the Council for Human Rights and Civil Society under the President of Russia, member of the Expert Council under the Human Rights Commissioner, Chairman of the Public Council under the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow.
Yabloko party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov demanded that Public Prosecutor of the Republic of Tatarstan Ildus Nafikov find and punish the law enforcement officers who, during the rally, unreasonably and toughly detained about 50 protesters.
The Yabloko Chairman recalled that on January 31, 2021, officers of the security forces unreasonably used brutal force against a group of citizens who gathered by the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences. During the detention, the protesters were seated or laid on the snow for a long time, and their hands were pulled behind their backs. Abusive statements and actions were made against the detainees, and protective masks were torn off from them.
“It is unacceptable that law enforcement officers humiliate citizens or threaten their life and health,” Nikolai Rybakov said.
Nikolai Rybakov wrote to the Public Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation and the Mayor of Moscow demanding that the restrictions on public events be lifted. A number of bans on holding mass events, in particular, sports events, have already been canceled in whole or in part. However, the ban on public events was extended by the Mayor’s Decree of January 21, 2021.
Speech by the head of the Yabloko faction in the St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly, 3.02.2021
Photo: Boris Vishnevsky/ photo from the official website of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg
Laws have been passed in this room for more than a quarter of a century.
However, for the past ten days St. Petersburg has ceased to be a zone of law and has turned into a zone of lawlessness.
Tough detentions of civilians, beatings of women, use of electric shockers, demonstrative humiliation of citizens – all this in response to a peaceful protest, the right to which is guaranteed by the Constitution.
Non-admission of lawyers to the detained, many hours of detention of people with sight disabilities and mothers of young children, refusal to provide information to MPs, ignoring any indications of violations of the law – all this done with an insolent grin “if you are dissatisfied, you can complain”.
The concept of human rights has ceased to exist, as well as the concept of law.
Photo: Konstantin Markelov, Rector of Astrakhan State University/ photo from the official website of Astrakhan State University
Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, sent an appeal to Konstantin Markelov, Rector of Astrakhan State University, demanding that the unlawfully expelled students be reinstated.
On 29 January, 2021, the Rector expelled three students “in an administrative order” for participation in a peaceful protest action on 23 January, 2021. Two of the students – Violetta Yemelyanenko and Alexander Mochalov – are members of the Youth Yabloko. According to Yabloko, the Rector’s actions are aimed at intimidation and suppression of the freedom of speech, violate their rights to express their own views and beliefs, including the right to assemble peacefully without weapons.
Photo: The Chelyabinsk city pine forest / Wikimedia Commons
The second Court of Appeal once again confirmed that the decision of the regional Legislative Assembly to change the boundaries of the Chelyabinsk pine forest was unlawful. The court, located in St. Petersburg, overturned the decision of the deputies to seize part of the pine forest for the construction of a children’s surgical building.
Earlier, the Public Prosecutor General’s Office revealed his undeclared business worth over 38 billion roubles
Press Release, 1.02.2021
Photo: Sergei Sopchuk, photo from the official website of the Legislative Assembly of the Maritime Territory
Alexei Karnaukhov, Director of the Yabloko party Anti-Corruption Policy Сentre, appealed to the Chairman of the State Duma with a demand to deprive MP Sergei Sopchuk of his mandate. The court found that the United Russia deputy was unlawfully engaged in business worth over 38 billion roubles. Despite the court’s decision and a confirmed violation of anti-corruption laws, Sopchuk is still an MP in the State Duma. Yabloko’s Anti-Corruption Policy Centre emphasises that business activities are a basis for deprivation of a State Duma deputy of the mandate.
In the Yabloko party’s federal call centre for assistance to those detained at the actions of 31 January continues its work.
Lawyers and party activists work in the call centre. The call centre coordinates its work with the OVD-Info project providing information on the detained and legal aid to them and other human rights projects.
A new wave of political repression, targeted against a wide range of Russian citizens, the entire protesting civil society in Russia, has emerged.
The public protest is caused by people’s fatigue and unacceptability for them of the twenty years of irreplaceable authoritarian rule by Vladimir Putin and the prospects of the endless repetition of this situation. This is directly related to the events of the past year ─ the unlawful rewriting of the Constitution in order to establish a regime of unlimited personal power.
Photo: Sofya Pugacheva, head of the Novorzhevsky District and Yabloko member
The team of the Pskov branch of Yabloko has published the next issue of the newspaper Grazhdanin (Citizen) for the residents of the Novorzhevsky District. The paper was published on donations. This issue includes a large interview with Sofya Pugacheva, head of the district and Yabloko member, about the achievements and difficulties of the district in 2020, as well as materials about the inhabitants of the Novorzhevsky district, its economy, culture, education, tourism, charity, hopes and plans.
In the central publication of the issue is an interview with Sofya Pugacheva, head of the Novorzhevsky district, elected from Yabloko. She has been in charge of the region for more than a year, but she was able to do a lot for the residents of her native land and the region.
On Wednesday, 28 January, the Yabloko Party University held a lecture by Yulia Ostrovskaya, Deputy Director of the Centre for Social and Labour Rights, on harassment in the professional sphere. The lecture was held via Zoom.
Photo: members of the Kaliningrad branch of Yabloko on a picket “Let us return the right to decide to the city residents!”
The Kaliningrad branch of Yabloko and two voters filed a law suit in the Kaliningrad Regional Court. The law suit contests the decision of the Council of Deputies of the City of Kaliningrad to change the system of elections to the City Council from the mixed to the majority system.
