Every election campaign ends up bringing criminal cases against the ACF (Anti-Corruption Foundation). Against me, against Ashurkov, against Lyaskin, against Volkov. Now against Zhdanov.
The signals the authorities are sending us are absolutely clear: you are forbidden from taking part in elections. And if you try to twist our arms with public opinion and force us to cancel the elections, then you should expect retaliation.
I already wrote that a fabricated criminal case was opened against our main candidate in the Barvikha elections — ACF chief lawyer Ivan Zhdanov. They could not find anything even remotely substantial, so they went with draft evasion. (Zhdanov is now 27, so he cannot be conscripted even in theory.)
Today, on the very day of the Central Election Commission meeting that decided to cancel the elections, Zhdanov was summoned for questioning. Ivan went there after reading numerous triumphant posts about what a hero Ella Pamfilova was and how wonderful it was that the era of free elections had finally arrived.
And right there during the questioning, they announced searches:
- at his apartment;
- at the apartment he rents in Barvikha (he moved there for the duration of the election campaign and planned to stay if he was elected);
- at his mother's apartment.
And all this over a draft evasion case. I do not think there were three simultaneous searches even in the Serdyukov/Vasilyeva case (a major Russian corruption scandal).
So much for fair elections.
It is nothing — you will not intimidate us. On this point, we one hundred percent agree with that same Ella Pamfilova: we knew what we were getting into.