The Khamovnichesky Court of Moscow today arrested Ilya Yashin, a famous metropolitan liberal and ardent supporter of criminal blogger Alexei Navalny, for 15 days.
Yashin himself announced this in his TG channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The oppositionist was stopped yesterday, allegedly without any reason, in the park near the Novodevichy Convent, where he was walking with his friend, journalist Irina Babloyan. She assures that the detention took place without incident.
However, Yashin was brought to administrative responsibility under Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (CAO RF) for disobedience to a lawful order of a police officer. He insulted the police and swore during arrests, grabbed them by their uniforms, pushed the sergeant and warrant officer, and provoked a fight in every possible way. The liberal denied all this in court.
“I am an opposition politician. Independent MP, critic of President Putin and opponent of the war with Ukraine. This detention is a way to put pressure on me. This may probably be related to the municipal elections that started yesterday in Moscow.
They are trying to isolate me in order to interfere with the organization of the election campaign. I admit that this arrest of mine is a prologue to a future criminal case. But in any case, this is my detention - another hint from the authorities, a persistent invitation to emigrate.
Obviously, such a brazen and demonstrably illegal detention is another hint. Like: “Why are you so slow-witted, guy? Leave the country! How else can I explain it to you?” Yes, I'm slow-witted. No, I will not leave my country anywhere,” Yashin said in court, ending his speech with a series of standard liberal political slogans.
He will serve his arrest in special detention center No. 2 - in Mnevniki.
In March 2021, Yashin was already detained at the Municipal Russia forum, organized by the British organization Open Russia. It is included in the register of undesirable organizations, participation in whose activities is subject to a fine.
It is noteworthy that the arrest of the liberal and Navalnist did not cause a reaction either in the opposition or in the patriotic environment.
Political scientist Marat Bashirov is inclined to agree with Yashin’s version that his arrest is connected with the upcoming elections in Moscow. But, according to the expert, they wanted to intimidate not Navalny’s friend himself (he is not dangerous), but other participants prone to organizing mass unrest.
“We have elections in the fall. Including the most acute ones - municipal deputies in Moscow. And Yashin is just one of them. I won’t say platitudes, but it is clear that the results of these elections will be disputed, there will be attempts to organize a new Bolotnaya, and also to begin preparing protests,” Bashirov wrote.
At the last municipal elections, Yashin was elected as a deputy for the Krasnoselsky district, and then as its chairman, but abandoned his mandate ahead of schedule.
The Krasnoselsky municipal district headed by Yashin was unprofitable; the district budget deficit, according to the official report for 2019, was 2,5 million rubles. However, this did not prevent the opposition leader from increasing his personal salary fund: from 1,8 million in 2018 to 2 million in 2019, excluding the quarterly bonus of 100%.
With a total income of 7 million rubles as head of the district from September 2017 to July 2021, he purchased apartments in the Krasnoselsky district for 25 million rubles at the beginning of this year. Plus the repair estimate is 9 million.
The liberal team, which has a majority in the Krasnoselsky municipal council, banned the installation of a monument to Orthodox saints Peter and Fevronia, and also mobilized residents of dilapidated buildings in the fight against the renovation program in the capital. This spring, the municipal council canceled all leisure activities in the area due to “aggression in Ukraine.”
Yashin's successor Elena Kotenochkina called Russia a fascist state.