Declaration of the Czech Friends of Free Russia on the Current Process of the Campaign of „Elections“ to the Russian State Duma, 17 – 19 September 2021
Today, at the beginning of the three-day long voting process in the Russian Federation, the Czech Friends of Free Russia would like to remind of their recent political statement on the Russian electoral campaign and the expectations from the vote:
„DECLARATION OF THE INFORMAL INITIATIVE OF CZECH FRIENDS OF FREE RUSSIA ON THE CURRENT PROCESS OF THE CAMPAIGN OF ELECTIONS TO THE RUSSIAN STATE DUMA 17 – 19 SEPTEMBER 2021
„Public appeal on the Russian authorities ahead of the parliamentary elections to the State Duma
We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned about the ongoing repression, the denial of the right to vote to millions of Russian citizens as well as the lack of opportunities to participate in the election process for the representatives of the opposition in the Russian Federation in the shadow of the forthcoming State Duma elections. This is confirmed, among other things, by the detention of a number of oppositionists, including Maksim Reznik, a member of the St. Petersburg parliament, the forced departure of Дмитрий Гудков, the inability to run for prominent system opposition leader Pavel Grudinin of the communist party, or by the fabricated trial and repressions against historian Yuri Dmitriev. A number of Russian non-profit organizations and the media have recently been included in the list of so-called foreign agents or „undesirable“ organizations, which ultimately meant the liquidation of some of them.
In addition, lawmakers of the ruling United Russia have enforced a law denying passive suffrage to Russian citizens affiliated with „extremist or terrorist organizations“, which are given to the pro-democracy groups, including Навальный Алексей‚s associations. This fact was reflected, for example, in the failed candidacy of the prominent opposition politician Ilya Yashin or Лев Шлосберг of the Jabloko party. Other opposition leaders linked to Алексей Навальный, such as Lyubov Sobol, Leonid Volkov and Vladimir Milov, are being prosecuted and prefer to leave the country to avoid imprisonment for fictitious charges.
We also find unacceptable efforts to reduce the transparency of the electoral process, which have resulted in the OSCE – The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe // OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) International Monitoring Mission’s real impossibility of monitoring parliamentary elections, re-designating Russia’s Golos civic initiative as a „foreign agent“ and deciding to cancel live video recording from polling stations to Russian society. We strongly disagree with the current regime’s intention to abuse the election to liquidate opposition forces seeking to democratize Russia.
We therefore call on the representatives of the Russian Government to put an immediate end to a series of repressions against their own citizens, to allow democratic and free elections, as well as independent scrutiny of the electoral process by both the international community and Russian citizens and local initiatives. In addition, we demand the release of political prisoners and an end to the prosecution of Russian opposition leaders and hundreds and thousands of other citizens who have supported them in recent months.
We then consider it completely absurd to declare Russia’s opposition structures „extremist“ and call for a reassessment of this position, as well as an end to the campaign defaming many Russian non-profit organizations and media initiatives promoting the transparency of the electoral and decision-making process in the Russian Federation.
We want Russia to return to international cooperation and restore fair relations with Western states, including the Czech Republic, which it is systematically undermining today.“
The undersigned members of the Parliament of the Czech Republic:
Helena Langšádlová – poslankyně
Marek Hilšer, Senator
Adéla Šípová – senátorka za obvod Kladno
Pavel Žáček, Deputy
Tomáš Martínek – poslanec za Liberecký kraj
Lukáš Wagenknecht, Senator
Petr Gazdík, Deputy
František Kopřiva, Deputy
David Smoljak, Senator
Jan Farský, Deputy
Tomáš Fiala – senátor za obvod č. 12
Mikuláš Bek, Senator
Mikuláš Peksa, Member of the European Parliament
Ondřej Benešík, Deputy
Jan Bartošek, Deputy
Odkaz zde.
Poslanecká sněmovna Parlamentu České republiky Senát Parlamentu ČR European Parliament Free Russia Foundation Andrius Kubilius EU East Neighbourhood – Friends of European Russia