Statement of the St.Petersburg branch of Yabloko, 20.03.2019

Photo: Maria Karpenko and Boris Vishnevsky, Yabloko MP in the St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly

On Tuesday, 19 March, Maria Karpenko was sacked from her post of correspondent for the Kommersant newspaper. The reason for this outrageous dismissal was [her criticism of Alexander Beglov, acting Governor of St.Petersburg in] the Rotonda channel co-authored by Maria in the Telegram network. According to Vladimir Zhelonkin, head of the [Kommersant] publishing house, the texts published by Maria in the Rotunda did not meet the approved requirements of the Kommersant paper. He stated that the Rotunda channel represented “activism incompatible with journalistic status.”

From the point of view of Vladimir Zhelonkin, Maria covered the election campaign of [acting Governor] Alexander Beglov in an unacceptable way. To put it in a nutshell, she did not sing praises to the acting Governor, did not admire his activities, moreover, she dared to criticize him!

What is this, if not censorship in the full sense of the word? It was an act of dense legal nihilism, absurdity and direct pressure on journalists, caused by acting Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov.

The St. Petersburg regional branch of the Yabloko party expresses support for Maria Karpenko. We wish her self-possession and moral courage.

We want to remind Alexander Beglov and all those involved in this shocking case that mobbing of journalists and trampling on the principles of freedom of speech will not help them.

 Yekaterina Kuznetsova,

Chair of the St.Petersburg branch of Yabloko