Yabloko threatens authorities with self-liquidation
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Loading... - Cheryl Williams
- 15 Jul 2022
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Yabloko is forced to think of a unified plan to protect its candidates and activists from persecution and repression. Since the party of Grigory Yavlinsky united all the elections with a framework pacifist campaign, the risk of mass application of new administrative and criminal laws against Yabloko has increased. So It had to threaten the authorities with possible self-liquidation and a high-profile political scandal if it was impossible to defend myself in any other way. The leadership of Yabloko makes it clear that the effectiveness of this signal to the top will show the course of the elections, but experts believe that in these times such methods of blackmail - or are they still gestures of desperation? - most likely the Kremlin will not be touched anyway.
According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, there is no serious talk about closing the party yet, at least at the level of the governing bodies - in the bureau or the political committee - this issue has not been discussed. However, in the context of the continuous persecution of party members for their pacifist position, Yabloko does not rule out such an option at all.
Recall that earlier the leader of Yabloko, Nikolai Rybakov, and a member of the federal political committee, Sergei Mitrokhin, called complete self-liquidation a possible outcome. As the Daily Storm reported, the latter said: "If membership in the party becomes a threat to freedom and life, then we will close the party so as not to put people at such a risk." In turn, Rybakov stressed that the party monitors daily what is happening with its assets: "We have taken all possible actions that we can offer to secure the party and candidates." And he noticed that "Yabloko" is making every effort to continue working and "does not leave anywhere."
Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman Sergei Ivanenko, who, by the way, is considered the “gray eminence” under Yavlinsky, was the first to announce the possible completion of political activities by Yabloko. It is through Ivanenko that such initiatives are often made public, which are then implemented. So, for example, back in November last year, Ivanenko told NG that Yabloko would not nominate candidates for as many districts in Moscow as possible. Say, the conditional limit figure is 400 people (see "NG" dated 11/08/21 ), and maybe even less. As a result, on July 7, it was announced that a total of 224 party nominees would take part in the municipal elections in the capital.
But for now, the party says they don't want to assume or at least simulate a situation in which a complete closure is possible. So there seems to be no clear plan for this. For example, Ivanenko, on the one hand, confirmed the most radical scenario: “We really allow such a possibility. It all depends on the behavior of the authorities and the scale of repression, this is one of the options.” Moreover, such a possibility is spelled out in the party charter, but, on the other hand, Ivanenko stressed that, of course, such an option is an extreme measure, which is still being discussed purely theoretically. “We live in a country where Art. 58 of the Criminal Code for anti-Soviet agitation. We do not expect anything from the authorities, but we do not relieve ourselves of our responsibility for people. We do not have the goal of throwing them into the furnace of political activity. If they put people in jail for belonging to a party, then we will, of course, close the party,” Yabloko emphasized. And, according to him, it is impossible to predict the course of events in the country after February 24. However, already at this stage, the persecution of party members for their political position reached the scale of 2014, when Yabloko opposed the annexation of Crimea.
Mitrokhin confirmed to NG: “We will close the party only if they start persecuting people for membership in it. As, for example, it was with members of the Navalny and Khodorkovsky organizations. So far there is no such thing, but in the future everything is possible, given the position of the party on Ukraine, etc. But still, the topic of closing the party is not relevant yet.” Because now the pacifists are being massively persecuted, but it is precisely the anti-apple bias that is not yet visible. And even if Yabloko's candidates are massively withdrawn from the elections, this is hardly a reason for its closure, especially since there are many other areas of party activity.
Emilia Slabunova, a member of Yabloko's political committee, told NG that so far there are no risks for party members precisely because they are members of it. Yes, and in Russia there is no legislative possibility to prosecute for membership in registered parties, and parties cannot be included in the lists of foreign agents and undesirable organizations. But at the same time, she stressed that nothing can be ruled out in the future: “And if it comes to a ban on our party, it will be an international disgrace.
We will be forced to close the party ourselves if repressions intensify, although so far we have not discussed the limit of absolute inadmissibility, beyond which we will no longer be able to work. One thing is clear that we will not sit idly by: if there is a forced self-liquidation, it will be a loud protest against the political situation.” But still, now the persecution is not for party affiliation. At the same time, although there is no time frame and a clear plan, it can be said that the decision to close the party can only be made by the congress, which can be quickly assembled if necessary, especially since it is, as it were, not closed. The upcoming elections, if there is a total removal of the apple candidates, and not for technical reasons, but for administrative and criminal articles about discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, will show which way the authorities are going. “For now, we must send a signal to society and the authorities about the inadmissibility of what is happening. Because even in power there are adequate people. The stupid will rejoice at our possible closure, and the smart will understand that this is another red line that cannot be crossed, ”Slabunova told NG. Read More…
