Press Release, 19.02.2020

On 17 February, Nizhny Novgorod Yabloko applied for getting a permission to hold March in Memory of Boris Nemtsov for the third time. It is planned that the march will take place in the form of a public event – a procession along Rozhdestvenskaya street, followed by a rally Markin square. Earlier, the administration of Nizhny Novgorod twice refused to give a permission for the commemorative action.

The activists of the regional office of the Yabloko party in Nizhny Novgorod note that the purpose of the public event is to commemorate Boris Nemtsov on the fifth anniversary of his murder, as well as express solidarity, support for his ideas, values ​​and his legacy, including condemnation of political repression and violations of human rights and freedoms. The protesters also intend to demand a change of power in Russia and express their negative attitude to the government’s amending the Constitution.

“If the government expects political demands from us, it will receive them,” Oleg Rodin, Chairman of the regional branch of Yabloko, commented on this decision. “A political transformation of the country may take place, and it can take on terrifying forms, at such moments it is necessary to resist this. We must convey to society the essence of [Putin’s] amending the Constitution and demand the change of power, admission of opposition candidates [to elections], and release of political prisoners. This is what Boris Nemtsov would expect from us.”

It should be noted that the city administration twice refused to give a permission to holding a memorial action in the format of a mass cultural event in Bolshaya Pokrovskaya street, noting that there “was no cultural component in the application”, and, therefore, a format for a new format – that of a public event allowing for stating political demands was chosen for the new application.

The organisers sent an open letter to Gleb Nikitin, Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, with a request for assistance in getting a permission for the March in memory of Boris Nemtsov. At the moment, more than 150 people have signed the letter, including Raisa Nemtsova, wife of Boris Nemtsov, and his son Anton.

Politician and statesman Boris Nemtsov was shot dead on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge near the Kremlin in Moscow on February 27, 2015. The Yabloko party annually takes part in the actions in memory of the murdered politician throughout the country. Yabloko places political responsibility for the murder on President Vladimir Putin. Boris Nemtsov was the first Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region.