Yabloko members Viktor Shalyakin and Vitaly Bovar, detained at the municipal deputies congress, received fines
Press Release, 25.05.2021
Photo: Vitaly Bovar (right) / Photo from Vitaly Bavar’s Facebook page
Late in the evening of 24 May, the Novgorod District Court imposed fines on Viktor Shalyakin, the Chairman of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko, and Vitaly Bovar, the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Deputies of the St. Petersburg municipality Vladimirsky District. Yabloko members participated in the municipal deputies congress (Zemsky Congress) convened in Novogod on 22 May and dispersed by police. According to the court, Yabloko members violated Article 19.3 Part 1 of the Administrative Code (“Defiance to a lawful order of a police officer…”) Viktor Shalyakin and Vitaly Bovar, and fines amounting to 3,000 roubles were imposed on them.
The court hearing on the second police protocol in relation to Viktor Shalyakin – under the article on violation of the rules of behavior in the conditions of a high alert regime (Article 20.6.1 Part 1 of the Administrative Code) – was postponed by the court to 27 May.
Activists of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko emphasise that they consider the detentions unlawful and the protocols falsified.
It should be noted that on 22 May, the congress of municipal deputies (Zemsky Congress) started in Novgorod. Municipal deputies from more than 30 regions of Russia came to the congress. A few days before the congress, Andrei Nikitin, Governor of the Novgorod region, tightened the requirements of the decree “On the introduction of a high alert regime”. Almost immediately after the start, the congress was interrupted by police officers.
Four delegates – Yulia Galyamina, former municipal deputy of the Timiryazevsky district of Moscow, Vitaly Bovar, deputy of the Vladimirsky district of St. Petersburg, Alexander Bondarchuk, deputy of the Noyabrsk City Duma of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, and Viktor Shalyakin, the Chairman of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko – were detained by the police. Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov issued a statement demanding to stop police pressure on the leaders of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko and release all the detainees of the dispersed municipal deputies congress.
On 24 May, the court appointed Yulia Galyamina seven days of arrest under the article on defiance to a police officer orders (Article 19.3 Part 1 of the Administrative Code); however, no decision as regards the accusation of the violation of the high alert regime has been made yet.
Posted: May 26th, 2021 under Elections, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Governance, Human Rights, Regional and Local Elections, Regional and Local Elections 2020, Regional and Local Elections 2021, Regional policies and Local Self-Governing, Yabloko's Regional Branches.