Press Release, 21.10.2019

The branch of Yabloko in Tatarstan will hold a rally against political reprisals. The action will be held in Kazan on 2 November and is dedicated to the day of memory of victims of political reprisals, as well as the international day to end impunity for crimes against journalists. The action starts at 13.00.

The regional office notes that initially the activists filed two applications for the rally to the executive committee. The first to hold the rally on the Millennium Square, near the Kazan Kremlin, and the second for the Karim Tinchurin Park. The first application was rejected in connection with a “previously planned event held by the Kazan youth organisation”. The executive committee of Kazan gave a permission for the second site.

“It was decided to appeal to the court with a request to declare the refusal [of the authorities] to permit a rally unlawful, but, given the practice of such cases in Tatarstan and the well-known position of the courts on this issue, we decided to hold the event at a reserve venue in the Tinchurin Park,” Ruslan Zinatullin, Chairman of the regional branch of Yabloko, said.

The purpose of the rally, according to the notification, is “to attract the attention of the public, the media and state and municipal authorities to commemorative events”. They rally will oppose “new political repressions in the country”, demand “respect for human rights in Russia,” “revision of all politically motivated unlawful cases and an end to political persecution of citizens”, as well as “repealing  of repressive articles of the Criminal Code”.