They arrested the deputy of the Petersburg legislature Aleksandr Shishilov, from the Yabloko party. He would have discredited the Armed Forces fighting in Ukraine. Many academics defend his position. An example of those who continue to fight for freedom of expression in Russia.
Moscow () – Anyone who disagrees with the Kremlin’s line is arrested or punished, and accused of “discrediting the Armed Forces”. Even so, it is not possible to censor the opinion of those who oppose the war or their ideological motivations. Among the latest detainees is a deputy of the St. Petersburg legislative assembly. This is Aleksandr Shishilov, a university professor and member of the liberal Yabloko party, accused of his posts on the “VKontakte” social network. The case is causing a stir in public opinion.
Shishilov is a well-known figure, with an important career: he is a physicist and mathematician who has participated in political life since 1990, as a reformist deputy of “Lensovet”, the communal council that functioned before the collapse of the USSR. He was director of the political center “Strategija” and a member of several legislatures of the St. Petersburg Duma. He also participated in government commissions for education and scientific research. A diplomat and humanitarian activist, he proposed that the Council honor the deaths of those killed in the Ukraine war with a minute of silence. A position that differs from that of the nationalist Zhirinovsky, who for a long time incited Russia to war.
Faced with his arrest and the accusations, Shishilov reacted openly, denouncing a “persecution against liberals and those who adopt positions different from those of the five major parties.” “Because I am the leader of an opposition minority, everyone who cares about democracy and freedom of expression is beaten with me,” he told reporters. In addition to outraging the late warmonger, he is accused of his criticism of the “St. George’s ribbon”, a classic symbol of the Russian army, today used in anti-Ukrainian propaganda.
“Putting the Putinian Z swastika on this tape,” Shishilov writes on social media, “is an offense to a symbol of our people, it is a discredit.” To bring charges against such a prominent figure as Shishilov, an academic commission of experts and jurists was even created. At the head of the commission is the head of the St. Petersburg Criminal Law Chair, Veronika Abakanova, who highlighted precisely the “personal interpretation of the symbol of St. George.”
Shishilov commented that “it is sad to see how the grossest emotions can bring down institutes and qualified teachers to such an extent, and that this leads to police terror and the persecution of those who think differently.” Many figures in the academic world sympathized with the professor and politician. Among them, the historian Irina Levinskaya, who criticized the expert commission for its manifest bias and incompetence, when having to decide on the historical value of a symbolic object.
Shishilov’s conviction was also motivated by the use of the term “so-called” in reference to the special military operation, which was branded as “ironic and insulting”, which also provoked the reaction of writers and philologists who spoke of “ideological use of linguistics”. Natalia Evdokimova, secretary of the St. Petersburg Council for the Defense of Human Rights, also intervened in support of the accused, stating that “when such a competent political and social figure speaks about these issues, it is important to listen to her without prejudice.”
In recent years, together with Shishilov, Evdokimova has organized various initiatives in defense of democracy and constitutional rights, including in support of Aleksej Navalny’s movement, denouncing in particular police violence against protesters on several occasions. For his part, another Petersburg deputy, Boris Vyshnevsky, considers “completely absurd” the accusations against his colleague, “who has always expressed his opinions with respect and consistency, without ever discrediting anyone.”
According to Vyshnevsky, “these ridiculous accusations and processes are aimed at creating the illusion of unanimity in our country. And for this, repressive methods must be used, which prevent the free expression of any opinion other than the official one.” Punishing an outstanding exponent, ultimately, serves to intimidate the average citizen, who “can only shut up and stick his head in the sand.”
The date of the judicial process that will resolve the case has not yet been set, and Shishilov intends to make it as public as possible, to expose the inconsistency of the propaganda and the misleading accusations. His lawyer, Leonid Krikun, has already begun to spread all the documents related to the process, even breaking protocols and prohibitions and publishing everything through Facebook, despite threats from the Prosecutor’s Office and the police. Perhaps a glimmer of truth and freedom of expression will illuminate the leaden cloak of Putin’s purges.
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