Grigory Yavlinsky’s web-site, 13.02.2020

Everyone knows that the Network [antifascist group] case was fabricated, and confessions were beaten out under torture, including the President of Russia, who was informed about torture at the meeting of the Human Rights Council. As the saying goes, “tell comrade N: a monstrous mistake has occurred”.

Speaking in court with his last statement, Dmitry Pchelintsev, who was sentenced for the longest term, 18 years, in this case, said,

“I have never been particularly interested in politics or justice, or anything like that. In principle, mainly because I was not very interested in it and I did not think that it could ever become.., that I would ever come across this. However, after spending more than two years in solitary confinement, I analysed how I ended up here and what brought me here. And naturally, I could only make one conclusion, which, I think, is obvious to everyone: we really did something wrong with the whole country. And we did not do something [important], although we had to, were even obliged to do.”

Indeed, open and unashamed falsification of criminal cases and election results at all levels becomes almost a norm in the country, this means only one thing: we are doing something wrong to the whole country. A vast majority of people are not involved in politics, are not interested in it, and do not believe in the possibility of changing anything in the life of the country.

The Network and the New Greatness cases [when young people were accused of creating an extremist society to that to allegedly take the power in Russia], the “Moscow riots” case [when those protesting against election fraud in the Moscow parliamentary election were imprisoned] – hundreds of similar examples can be found throughout Russia. Well, is it not yet clear where the security forces, intelligence agencies and Vladimir Putin lead the country? Is it not yet obvious that amendments to the Constitution are needed only for consolidation of this path formally and legally at the highest level? Well, it may seem that Putin’s amendments are not about that. However, in order to officially establish authoritarian totalitarianism in Russia, it is enough to simply abandon the first two chapters of the Constitution (“Fundamentals of the Constitutional System” and “Rights and Freedoms of the Citizen and Individual”) or to neutralise them to a large extent by turning the Fundamental Law of the state into the same hybrid, like our entire social and political system.

It is incredibly difficult to stop the final transformation of the country into a nomenclature-bureaucratic corporation. Realizing what times are coming, seeing the determination with which the leader of the hybrid coup intends to fulfill his plan and suppress his opponents, many people get afraid, fearing for their personal comfort. This situation is not new. The Russian elites have already swallowed the rejection of sensible reforms, the criminal privatisation of the 1990s, the crime of the two Chechen wars, the extension of the presidential term to six years, the annexation of Crimea, and the war in Syria.

Now Putin is proposing the adoption of amendments to the Constitution, which will open the way to a modern totalitarian state. In this situation, it is not enough to simply criticise Putin’s actions. Sprinkling ashes on one’s head and lamenting that all is lost is senseless. It is a mistake to hope that either all this will not affect you, or there are others who will oppose the totalitarian system. Today it has become more obvious than ever: a responsibly organised, peaceful and lawful mass political action is necessary. Protest against falsification of criminal and political cases in the courts! Explain the dangers of rewriting the Constitution! Support alternative amendments! Join the Yabloko party! #FreedomToPoliticalPrisoners! #СвободуПолитзаключенным!

Source: https://www.yavlinsky.ru/article/set/