Press Release, 01.02.2018

On 1 February an attempt was made to disrupt an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Deputies of the Moscow district on the local referendum. The meeting had to discuss the decision of the Zamoskvoretsky Inter-district Public Prosecutor of Moscow who had pledged unlawful holding of a local referendum. Earlier, the municipal deputies from Yabloko initiated the referendum that had to anwer the questions related to functioning and routes of public transport, as well as the rules of construction in the area, in particular, the number of storeys of the proposed buildings and transfer of a monument to Vladimir Lenin from one of the central squares to an open air museum.

The municipal deputies (nine from Yabloko and one from United Russia) offer the Muscovites to decide on the referendum eight issues: three about the traffic in the area, three about monuments and two about infill constructions. In particular, citizens will be asked about the transfer of the monument to Vladimir Lenin from the Kaluga Square to the Museon Park. Opinions of residents and deputies, whether there should be a monument in this square, diverge. Deputies also propose to conduct a survey on the installation of a monument to the first president of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov in the city centre and a fountain in the park, named in his honour. The monument was erected without any public discussion, although many residents were against it, Andrei Morev noted. Deputies appealed to the Mayor’s Office and the Moscow City Duma, but they replied that the monument should be in the area. Another issue that is brought to the referendum concerns restriction of the maximum height of construction in the territory of Yakimanka, one of the central Moscow districts, by 30 meters.

In total, the draft referendum contained eight issues, four of which the Public Prosecutor’s Office found to be inconsistent with the law. The court’s decision on this issue is expected on the 2nd of February. At today’s meeting, the deputies were to decide to hold a referendum on the other four issues, that were not challenged by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The meeting was attended by residents of the district and Chairman of the Council of Veterans of Yakimanka. However, unexpectedly there came representatives of the party “Communists of Russia” and the presidential candidate from this party Maxim Suraykin. It is noteworthy that they refused to enlist their names in the registration sheet. In addition, the federal television channels arrived at the meeting without any preliminary notifications.

According to Yabloko’s Andrei Morev, head of the Council of Deputies, it was clear from the very beginning that these actions had been aiming at disrupting the meeting. The “unidentified guests” were constantly shouting insults to the deputies and did not react to the rebuke of the head of the district. In view of this, it was decided to hold a closed meeting in the office of the head of the district. However, representatives of the above-mentioned party and unidentified citizens blocked the deputies and staff of the Council staff from leaving the hall. As a result, a scuffle occurred, and one of the deputies got a traumatic brain injury. After that, “unidentified persons” tried to break the door to Andrei Morev’s office, where the deputies were discussing the agenda items. The deputies called an ambulance and several police squads.

The deputies have already appealed to the police and Public Prosecutor demanding to examine the case.