Press Release, 02.10.2015

Andrei Babushkin, Member of the Council for Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, a member of YABLOKO’s Bureau, President Vladimir Putin to commission the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia to inspect the penal colony, where Evgeny Vitishko, YABLOKO’s environmentalist, is serving his sentence. Vladimir Putin assured that the inspection would be conducted under the supervision of Public Prosecutor General’s Office.

Andrei Babushkin told the president that the conviction of environmentalist Evgeny Vitishko had been unlawful.

“He was not only unlawfully convicted, but was not unlawfully released on parole. And it is the blame of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, although Vitishko has been working [in the colony] honestly and has been sending his entire salary to an orphanage for the disabled. [The colony] announced that he had eight reprimands, simply because he had written a complaint to [Russian Ombudsperson] Ella Pamfilova, and had not a single encouragement! ” Babushikn told Vladimir Putin.

“If there are violations, then we will do everything to ensure that they are eliminated,” the President said.

YABLOKO member Evgeny Vitishko is a well-known environmentalist and civil activist. In 2012 Vitishko was charged with three years on probation for criticism of Governor of the Krasnodar Territory Alexander Tkachyov under a pretext of spray-paining on the fence of his “country house” built on the seized and fenced public lands. The environmental activist expressed his disagreement with unlawful seizure of the lands and fencing of public territories in a natural reserve near the Black Sea. At the same time, a special prosecutor’s investigation stated that no fence has ever existed at that place. On the threshold of the Sochi Olympic Games Vitishko’s suspended sentence was replaced by a real term in a penal settlement.

The YABLOKO party stood up in support of Evgeny Vitishko more than once. On Februray 18, the Day of Solidarity with Evgeny Vitishko, mass street actions took place around the world. By July 3, Vitishko’s birthday, YABLOKO turned out a batch of T-shirts in support of the environmentalist.

Both Russian and international organisations have repeatedly made statements in support of Vitishko. In 2014 Amnesty International declared Vitishko the prisoner of conscience. In March 2015, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights addressed Russia with a call to take urgent measures to protect Evgeny Vitishko’s rights and freedoms. Human Rights Watch also addressed the Russian authorities demanding to release Evgeny Vitishko. ALDE Party President Sir Graham Watson earlier this year stated that he “finds it cynical against the background of the Winter Olympics that a respected environmentalist from the Sochi region, who was protesting against the severe destruction of ecological systems in and around Sochi in connection with the Olympic games, receives such a lengthy sentence. It represents another episode in the ongoing wave of reprisals against civil society activists in Russia. Yevgeny Vitishko must be freed.” Statements in favour of the release of Vitishko were made by world and European liberals – Liberal International, the ALDE party, Norwegian Venstre, Zares, Slovenia, the Liberal Party of Moldova, Italia dei Valor and others. IOC and Olympic Committees of Norway and Sweden and Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg also asked to release Vitishko.