Press Release, 22.11.2021

Photo: Vyacheslav Chernov / Photo by the Press Service of the Kemerovo branch of Yabloko

On 18 November, police in Tashtagol, a city in the south of the Kemerovo region, searched the home of Vyacheslav Chernov, former candidate to the State Duma from Yabloko in electoral district No. 104. The reason for the search was his post on Instagram about Petr Bytyrev, former Chairman of the regional electoral commission of the Kemerovo region.

The search began on 18 November at approximately 9:40 a.m. Employees of the Centre for Countering Extremism, police officers and SOBR special police fighters arrived in Tashtagol from Kemerovo (distance 390 km).

The search lasted until 2:00 p.m. As a result of the search, two monoblock computers, two laptops, three telephones, one of which was the phone of Vyacheslav Chernov’s wife, and several flash cards were seized from the ex-candidate for State Duma deputy. During the search, police officers were only interested in electronic equipment and video archives.

The search is connected with the initiation of a criminal case under Article 128.1 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“libel”). This article provides for a fine of up to 1 million roubles, or imprisonment for up to two years. The employees of the police department for counteracting extremism regarded one of the Vyacheslav Chernov’s posts on his personal page in Instagram as libel. Vyacheslav Chernov published a video criticising the work of Pyotr Batyrev, former Chairman of the electoral commission of the Kemerovo region.

It should be noted that, a series of searches took place in the Kemerovo Region on 9 November in connection with the case of the politician Alexei Navalny. The police also searched the home of Denis Shakin, a member of the Yabloko party and ex-candidate for the State Duma on the federal list of the party. All phones and hard drives of a computer and a laptop were seized from Shakin during the search.