Press Release, February 7, 2014

YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin has sent a letter to Public Prosecutor General Yury Chaika demanding an investigation into the pogrom of the office of the Consumer Rights Protection Society and take measures of prosecutorial response. Mitrokhin notes the materials of the investigation must be sent to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for filing a criminal case on the program.

On February 3, unidentified assailants attacked the office of the Consumer Rights Protection Society at Smolensky Boulevard, Moscow. A video of the attack was shown by the NTV television channel. The journalists called the attackers “Cossacks”.

The video clearly demonstrates that the initiators of the pogrom were using violence against the staff of the organization behaving defiantly and were shouting insults and threats.

It goes from the speech of the attackers that they were seeking for another organization in the office of the Consumer Rights Protection Society – the Committee of Solidarity with the Ukrainian Maidan. But it does not change the facts.

“We believe that all citizens of Russia, regardless of their political views have the right to an effective criminal law protection against such pogroms,” runs the statement.

Recently, the Consumer Rights Protection Society has been in the spotlight. On February 8, the Consumer Rights Protection Society together with a number of NGOs and the YABLOKO party will hold a rally against the restriction applied by the authorities on the e-commerce.