Appeal by the Bureau of the Yabloko Party, 9.07.2020

The Yabloko party has always supported and will continue to support the struggle of residents of the Chelyabinsk region against the unlawful construction by AO The Russian Copper Company, which is fully controlled by offshore companies, of the Tominsky Mining and Processing Plant, a first-class hazard enterprise in the immediate vicinity of the city of Chelyabinsk.

The Yabloko party supports the desire of the residents of the South Urals to resolve the dispute in court.

However, the decision of the judges of the arbitration court of the Chelyabinsk region to close for public the trial of the Chelyabinsk regional public environmental organisation Ecological Consulting against AO Tominsky Mining and Processing Plant on the prohibition of the activities creating a risk of harming the environment (https://kad.arbitr.ru/Card/2002b34c-6bd9-4218-bded-a8) leaves all in great perplexity.

By virtue of Article 11 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the proceedings in arbitration courts are open. A trial in a closed court session is allowed in cases where an open trial can lead to the disclosure of state secrets, in other cases, provided for by federal law, as well as when satisfying the petition of the person participating in the case and citing the need to maintain commercial, official or other secrecy protected by law.

In this case, there is no information constituting a commercial secret of the offshore companies, and we are not talking about the commercial aspects of the Russian Copper Company, especially since, by virtue of Clause 4, Article 5 of the Federal Law “On Commercial Secrets”, the regime of commercial secrets cannot be established by persons engaged in entrepreneurial activity in relation to the following information: on environmental pollution, fire safety, sanitary and epidemiological and radiation conditions, food safety and other factors that render negative impact on ensuring the safe functioning of production facilities, the safety of each citizen and the safety of the population as a whole.

This lawsuit concerns the life, health and safety of the property of dozens of thousands residents of the South Urals.

The Yabloko party believes that residents of the Chelyabinsk region have the right to know how this case which is fateful without any exaggeration for Chelyabinsk and the region is examined by court, thus, this dispute should be considered in an open and transparent process.

The Yabloko party appeals to Vyacheslav Lebedev  the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Yevgeny Shaikhutdinov Chairman of the Arbitration Court of the Chelyabinsk Region, and Igor Krasnov, Public Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, with a demand to take measures to protect the rights of residents of the Chelyabinsk region to an open and public hearing of the case А76-5854/2018.

Nikolai Rybakov,

Yabloko Chairman