A few days ago, Yaroslavl Mayor Urlashov organized a rally, "Against Crooks and Thieves," attended by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, A Just Russia, and Civic Platform, which declared that they were joining forces to destroy the political monopoly of United Russia—the very same crooks and thieves.
Yevgeny Urlashov himself said that he would run in the gubernatorial election in order to fight United Russia there:
And then last night (SURPRISE), Vyacheslav Urlashov was detained as part of a criminal case "involving an attempted bribe."
"According to the investigation, the mayor of the city of Yaroslavl and his subordinates, from December 2012 to July 2, 2013, extorted a bribe of 14 million rubles from the director of a commercial company out of funds transferred to the company as payment for completed work," Guzovskaya said. According to her, if the director failed to meet the suspects' demands, threats were repeatedly made that payment for work under the next contract would be withheld. "The funds in the amount of 14 million rubles intended as a bribe were handed by the director of the commercial company to an intermediary, who brought the money to a prearranged location for transfer to the suspects," a representative of the Investigative Committee's regional branch reported. http://www.interfax.ru/news.asp?id=316242
How convenient. The money was handed over to some intermediary, who took it to a prearranged location. So why didn't they wait until Urlashov himself—or at least his deputy—came to that location and dug a golden snuffbox stuffed with banknotes out of the ground? Then they could have caught him red-handed.
If something looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a duck.
And the case against Urlashov looks like a frame-up, is set up like a frame-up, and with 99% probability is a frame-up.
They dragged in some people who were already on the hook, had them file a complaint about extortion of a bribe, and take the money to a "prearranged location." How can one not think of old man Opalev, whose testimony is the foundation of the case against me.
From here on, things will most likely follow a familiar script: federal TV channels will start smearing Urlashov, spinning tales about the fabricated case and parading Investigative Committee goons on screen, trying to destroy his electoral standing in the Yaroslavl region and make him nationally known as the "opposition mayor who takes bribes." If Urlashov does not give in and keeps resisting, they will slap him with a suspended or real prison sentence, permanently barring him from taking part in elections.
Read this excellent roundup carefully: it analyzes the fate of 50 mayors who were elected after defeating United Russia candidates in hard-fought battles for voters' support. The conclusion is unequivocal: of those elected mayor against United Russia's wishes, 90% were jailed or removed from office
The Party of Crooks and Thieves has finally become incapable of winning even with the use of administrative resources and its propaganda machine. Now they have a different method: fabricating criminal cases against strong candidates and banning them from participating in elections.
I am sure that the residents of Yaroslavl should gather in the city center this evening and say everything they think about this.