Press Release, 16.12.2015

On December 19-20, the 18th Congress of the YABLOKO party will be held, 164 delegates from 77 regional branches and steering bodies of the party will elect new party leaders: party Chairperson, members of the Bureau, Political Committee, Internal Audit Commission and Arbitration Committee. Read more »

Press release, 14.12.2015
Secretary of YABLOKO Political Committee, Prof. Galina Mikhaleva spoke about the threats of religious extremism and problems of security at the 12th international conference “Fundamental Rights in Europe endangered – Liberal Answers” which was held in Stuttgart on December 12. Read more »

Press Release, 14.12.2015

At present two cases (that of Grigory Semyonov, Deputy Chair of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO and Moscow municipal deputy, and party activist Stanislav Beliansky) have been sent by the judges to the police for revision. Such decisions were adopted by the judges of the Tverskoy District Court, Moscow. Read more »

Press Release, 14.12.2015

Trials over five defenders of the Constitution will take place in the Tverskoy Court, Moscow, today. All the five were detained at the action in defence of the Russian Constitution in Pushkin Square, Moscow, on Saturday (the Russian Constitution Day). Read more »

Text, video, 15.12.2015

A student of the Higher School of Economics at Grigory Yavlinsky’s seminar asked the professor why he was criticizing Russia’s foreign policy, as, according to the student, “our country did not quarrel with the world on its own initiative”. The video and the text of the dialogue was published on Grigory Yavlinsky’s Facebook page. The post caused great interest among the audience of social networks and in few days collected nearly 1.5 million views. Read more »

Press Release, 13.12.2015

Two activists of the YABLOKO party detained yesterday in Pushkin Square during the action in defense of the Constitution, remain in the Meshchansky police department. Police arrested them for 48 hours before the trial, which will be held tomorrow, on 14 December. The camera does not have any mattresses to sleep on.
Read more »

12.12.2015
LI Vice President on the Bureau Robert Woodthorpe Browne MBE strongly condemned the news that the Russian authorities yet again arrested Sergey Mitrokhin, leader of Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko, alongside 11 party collegues, while peacefully commemorating Russian Constitution day. Read more »

12.12.2015

Sergei Mitrokhin and five other activists will be kept in the police cells until Monday like criminals due to their participation in one-person pickets in defence of the Russian Constitution. Then will be transported to court, the judge will make a decision on the punishment.

EWNC, 12.12.2015
UPD Today Evgeny Vitishko had to stop his hunger strike due to abrupt deterioration of his condition. (http://ewnc.org/node/20283)

Environmentalist Evgeny Vitishko, who is in prison since February 2014 and was set to be freed last month, is still in prison, and his health is deteriorating due to a hunger strike he declared to protest the sudden reversal of decision to set him free. Read more »

Press release, 12.12.2015

UPD. 15:00. Lawyer Sergei Susymov was allowed to see Sergei Mitrokhin

14:30. Police Officer in the police Department Tverskoye uses different pretext so that not to let Alexei Susyumov, Sergei Mitrokhin’s lawyer, to see the arrested. The police officer said that there was no Mitrokhin among the arrested.

14:00.  Police does not allow the lawyers to see Sergei Mitrokhin

Read more »

Press release, 12.12.2015

Today, on 12 December, the day of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin has been arrested by police at the action in defence of the Russian Constitution in Pushkin Square. Police also arrested YABLOKO’s Anton Antonov-Ovseyenko, Grigory Semyonov, Igor Bakirov and other YABLOKO and civil activists – 12 persons in total. They were all taken to Police Department Tverskoye. Read more »

Press release, 10.12.2015

Mayor of Petrozavodsk, the Republic of Karelia, will turn to the court if the deputies of the City Council dismiss her. Read more »

Blog post by Sergei Mitrokhin, 10.12.2015

These days we are celebrating a glorious albeit partially tragic jubilee.

Act of Bravery. 1965

On the 5th of December it turned exactly 50 years since the day when a large group of human rights defenders came out to Pushkin Square in order to protect the fundamental law of the country. The slogan of the action was a requirement of publicity in the trial over Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel, whose “crime” had been in handing over their manuscripts for publication abroad. The action lasted only a few minutes, and then was dispersed by KGB officers. Read more »

On December 19-20, the Congress of the YABLOKO party will take place. 164 delegates will elect the new party leaders: a Chairperson, members of the Bureau, Political Committee, Internal Audit Commission and Arbitration Committee. Read more »

Press Release, 09.12.2015

On 12 December, the day of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, YABLOKO will hold pickets in Pushkin Square in defense of the country’s fundamental law. The Soviet dissidents held their first rally in defense of the Constitution in this square in December 1965. YABLOKO party leader Sergei Mitrokhin will take part in the action. Read more »

Statement by YABLOKO Bureau, 09.12.2015

The reaction of the Russian leadership on the tragic death of Russian military Oleg Peshkov and Alexander Pozynich turned out to be asymmetric and strange. The [authorities] chose to strike a blow on cultural and educational ties between our nations. Such negative developments in the relations between Russia and Turkey arises much concern.
Read more »

Press release, 08.12.2015

On December 8, Moscow YABLOKO Youth conducted a round table on the juvenile justice system. The aim of the event was to break the myths about the juvenile justice which are being spread by the lobbyists of traditional values and “a special way” of the development of Russia. The supporters of the juvenile justice claim that the under-aged need a special treatment, different form those of the grown-ups, therefore one needs to develop separate legal institutions aimed at the obedience of children’s rights and interests, protection of children form domestic violence and provision of a special approach within the judicial and re-enforcement systems. Andrei Babushkin, a human rights defender, YABLOKO Bureau member and member of the Presidential Council for Human Rights, participated in the event. Read more »

Statement by the Moscow branch of YABLOKO Youth, 08.12.2015

On December 7, a precedent was set within the Russian legal system – the court passed the sentence against civil activist Ilgar Dadin for participating in four pickets, three of them were one-person pickets [according to the law, one-person picketing do not need authorisation]. On the one hand, three years of imprisonment is a too severe sentence. On the other hand, everybody is complaining that courts in Russia are dependent, but Basmanny court refuted this statement by charging the activist with three years of imprisonment though the Prosecutor’s Office asked for two years. As a rule, the court gives a milder punishment than the prosecution suggests. Read more »

Press Release, 07.12.2015

YABLOKO member Andris Dreimanis won by-elections to the Sebezh Council of Deputies, the Pskov, region. The elections took place on 6 December. Andris Dreimanis with almost 40 per cent of the vote won one of the two mandates.

Photo: Andris Dreimanis at the meeting of the Pskov branch of YABLOKO on 21 November, 2015

Vladimir Azarov, the second YABLOKO candidate, came fourth with nearly 30 per cent of the vote.

Press Release, 08.12.2015

The Moscow authorities denied the YABLOKO the permission to conduct a picket to mark the Constitution Day (the 12th of December) in Pushkin Square in the centre of Moscow. Read more »