Press release, 11.04.2016
St.Petersburg branch of YABLOKO Youth forwarded an appeal to city Ombudsman Alexander Shishlov calling to protect the rights and lawful interests of an underage student.

The student participated in a one-person picket conducted by the Solidarity movement. She did not violate the law on rallies and meetings. The police rewrote the passport data and reported that she had participated in an opposition action of prostet to the college where she is studying. Now the guardianship authorities are persecuting the student. Earlier Radio Liberty reported about the case (the girl’s name was changed for her benefit).

“It is an outstanding case. The mere fact that police checks the passport data of the participants of legal public actions is unlawful. But in this case the Ministry for Internal Affairs and other officials surpassed themselves by trying to fight the extremist activity of an underage girl who participated in a one-person picket against propaganda of hatred in mass media. And such a situation takes place in time when some websites are calling for unleashing a war. And what are the honest extremism fighters doing about this?” Danil Semyonov, leader of St.Petersburg YABLOKO Youth, said.

Member of the Regional Council of St.Petersburg YABLOKO Youth Maxim Khalimovsky claims that the civil society must condemn the persecution of students in order to prevent switching to the Belarusian practise when the opposition-minded young people are actually deprived of the right to work and study.