Translated material
Went through the front
Novosibirsk opposition deputies Pirogov and Boyko* deprived of mandates. After the start of the conflict in Ukraine, they took a pacifist position and were forced to leave the country
Sergey Boyko. Photo: social networks
On June 28, the city council of Novosibirsk deprived the deputy powers of independent deputies Helga Pirogov and Sergey Boyko (recognized by the Ministry of Justice as a “foreign agent”). 38 deputies voted for this, one opposed. Another independent deputy - Svetlana Kaverzina - refused to take part in the vote, saying that the fact of such a vote considers it illegal.
“The vote was secret, plus the calls in the hall sounded:“ There are no questions, let's quickly, everything is clear with them, ”Sergey Boyko told the New Boyko journalist. - Everyone tried to do as quickly and as secretly as possible. The deputies tried to observe the minimum formalities, but they were not much strained about this. ”
Boyko and Pirogov were deprived of powers with the formulation of “loss of trust” due to the failure to provide income declarations. The fact is that the deputies are now not in Russia, but they claim that all the necessary documents were transferred through their assistants.
“Yes, we are territorially abroad, but we sent all the documents signed by our own, in compliance with all the norms,” Boyko emphasized. - And then the prosecutor's office allegedly conducted an examination, but did not formulate the essence of the claims to our declarations. In their opinion, we wrote the wrong place? Or wrote that, but the pen was the wrong color? The prosecutor’s examination was allegedly submitted to the City Council. But the same Caversin says that the deputies who deprived us of the authority did not see any examination in the eye. Therefore, we want to go to court and at least in court to find out - what is wrong with our declarations? In fact, we took the mandates from us without formulating what we did wrong. ”
At the same time, now the former deputy emphasizes that he does not even hope for a fair court decision - Boyko is convinced that the judge will take the side of the City Council.
The interlocutor of Novye emphasized that although the deputies of the City Council sent him an invitation to the meeting, they did not allow him to join the Skype meeting, since he did not write a request to attend the meeting.
“You yourself called me, and then it turned out that I still have to write something in order to attend? - Sergey is indignant. “Have you relyed so much that I would not come?” Okay, my assistant wanted to go into the hall and read my appeal to the deputies. But he was also not allowed for a meeting. Do you know why? Allegedly, the chairs are over. Although during the broadcast of the meeting, we all watched many empty places. Anyway, he was ready to just stand only to speak out. Not given. "
The former head of the Navalny Novosibirsk headquarters* Sergey Boyko was forced to leave Russia in 2021, after the recognition of the headquarters of Navalny with extremist organizations and the arrest of the head of the Ufa headquarters of Lilia Chanysheva. Soon after, it turned out that a criminal case was opened on Boyko, and in the spring of this year he was recognized as a “foreign agent”.
Helga Pirogov was forced to leave Russia in 2022 due to the case of the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin, who was initiated by direct intervention, the case to discredit the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Now both Pirogov and Boyko are put on the wanted list. But all this time, politicians participated in the meetings of the City Council online, talked with voters through their assistants and actively led social networks.
From the very beginning, Pirogov and Boyko opposed the armed conflict in Ukraine, including actively supported the protesting Novosibirsk.
“I will continue to follow the life of Novosibirsk, continue to release videos on my YouTube channel,” Boyko told about his plans. - And when the risk that I will be imprisoned upon arrival in Russia will not be 100%, but at least 10%, I will come, I really want to return home. And then let my voters say whether I am worthy to be a deputy and represent their interests. And I will only hold the answer to my voters, and I think that only they can deprive me of a mandate. ”
Meanwhile, in Russia, amendments to the federal law have already begun to operate, which allow regional and municipal deputies not to declare their income at all or do it impersonally.