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Vadim Solovyov, head of the legal service of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation - on violations during the elections Over the past eight years, the methods of fraud have become much more sophisticated and thoughtful. If earlier we recorded the usual alteration of protocols plus the impact on voters through slander, today we can say that a state system has developed and a state policy is being pursued to obtain the result that the ruling party needs. This is the worst. For us, especially for lawyers, it is obvious that these elections essentially showed that we have seen a merging of the state and the United Russia political party. Their list was headed by the president, and regional organizations were headed by 67 governors and ministers, and in fact the rest of the political parties had to fight not with the United Russia party, but with the Russian state, with its colossal financial and organizational resources.
Anatoly Yablokov, lawyer , on the verdict in the case of academician Igor Reshetin (11.5 years in a strict regime colony) If we analyze the verdict, then on the most serious charges - legalization and money laundering - only one of the four articles remained, that is, three episodes of legalization were expelled by the court, and Reshetin was acquitted of these crimes. Of the 12 episodes of smuggling, which were qualified as a separate crime, only one remained. That is, in fact, 14 elements of crimes, especially grave ones, for which the public prosecutor offered 11 years in prison, were eliminated, and the court reduced the term by only six months. It is amazing. I believe that this once again shows the accusatory orientation of the court. In general, the defense has considered and still considers to this day: despite the fact that we heard the verdict of the court, not a single one of the charges against Reshetin has been absolutely proven.
Sergey Kruchina, coordinator of the International Fund for Animal Welfare project on working with homeless animals , about the initiative of the Moscow authorities to increase fines for cruelty to animals “Cruelty to Animals”. It is often impossible to bring a person under this criminal article, because its application is hung with conditions that are very difficult to comply with. New proposals to amend the Code of Administrative Offenses are a step in the right direction, because it is always very, very difficult to turn a criminal case around. And in our viscous legal system, the same security guard who killed a dog on the subway was eventually convicted. But you have no idea how much effort it took for the interested party to bring the matter to fruition! And an administrative offense is a very real fine, it is what the system of relations between man and animal in civilized countries is based on. For example, in London, a person for tying a dog in the sun can receive a rather heavy fine from the animal welfare inspector.
Letter to the editor of Quo vadis? - Where are you going? Viktor Sheinis, member of the bureau of the Russian democratic party Yabloko, deputy of the State Duma in 1994-1999, one of the authors of the Constitution of the Russian Federation After the heavy defeat that the Russian democrats suffered in the elections, a fork in the road appeared. She looks like this to me. Either the existing democratic parties will be practically excluded from public politics, their cadres will move into business, science, and emigration. Some will go to serve the victors, with more or less reason to expect to do at least something useful there (as the well-meaning intellectuals in the CPSU of the Khrushchev-Brezhnev-Andropov era went). And a few will organize protest street actions that make someone's blood run hot, but are almost unlikely to have a serious impact on society and government. And when other times come - and they will certainly come, because Russia in the 21st century cannot live like a despotism - a democratic party will have to be created from scratch. Continuity will be lost, but perhaps the coming generations will turn out to be more sophisticated, more principled, more successful than the democrats of the 1980s and 90s... I would still like to think that another, less probable, but not excluded option remains. Common sense tells us that in order to pass the baton to the heirs, we must try to recreate a united democratic movement, in the long run - a party. It's harder to do that today than it was yesterday. But the conditions have changed: now the water rises to the throat. Still marching in different columns, the Russian democrats cannot survive as a political force capable of doing good to their country. We are not talking about the conquest of power now. In order to resist the powerful wave of advancing authoritarianism and rip the country off the Chekist "hook", we must immediately move towards the creation of a stable democratic party capable of regaining the trust of the active minority of our society. And in order to resolutely draw a line under what divides the democrats. Stop figuring out who carried out the privatization "not in the right way" and who and for what reasons did not agree to enter the government when "the honor was offered." Who supported and who condemned the Chechen war. Who and why went to the Kremlin and who did not go there, or when they stopped going. Who is responsible for the 1998 default and who evaded responsibility for it. Let's leave all this and much more to future historians. There is too little time left before the presidential elections, and it is impossible to quickly create a single party of Russian democrats. But one more constructive step is still possible on this path: to put forward a united one—necessarily a united one! - Democratic candidate. The technology of such a choice has been discussed many times. Authoritative leaders who reject both "managed democracy" and Bolshevism, nationalism, xenophobia in any guise are known to all. It is they who must immediately assemble, make a decision, create a joint headquarters and mobilize all available, albeit limited, forces. There are no other time options. And then we will be able to show ourselves and the society that the Russian democrats have not so few supporters as it might seem from the results of the parliamentary “elections”, and create serious groundwork for the future.