In Astrakhan, people have been on hunger strike for 25 days. They are no longer fasting for the mayor’s office or for a new election, but simply for human dignity. You simply cannot tolerate a situation where a gang of thugs has seized power in one of the country’s largest cities—a regional capital—and I mean thugs in the literal sense. This is no longer even the “cursed ’90s” (a reference to Russia’s chaotic post-Soviet decade), but the 15th century. The Astrakhan gangsters, rebranded under the franchise name of “members of the United Russia party,” consider themselves—and not the residents of Astrakhan who supported Shein in the election—to be the only source of power. Many people simply do not grasp the scale and brazenness of the fraud that took place in Astrakhan. Let me remind you that Shein has now been elected mayor for the second time. And for the second time, the office has been seized by Astrakhan crooks, with the support of crooks from Moscow. To properly understand what is happening, read this: Shein. The first time Oleg Shein ran for mayor of Astrakhan was in 2009. That election was just as dirty as the snap election in 2012. Back then, a United Russia deputy oversaw the beating of journalists, and observers recorded an enormous number of violations: But the most interesting part began after 20:00, when Bozhenov’s thugs lined up outside each territorial election commission, blocking all entrances and exits. The police protected these thugs from the public (and this is not an exaggeration). - Sovetsky district election commission — A voting member representing Oleg Shein was taken hostage and locked in one of the offices, while in another office the “vote count” was taking place. The district police guarded the hostage and did not help him. - Leninsky district election commission — A representative of the city election commission for Oleg Shein could not enter the building; thugs would not let him in. When the police were asked to intervene, they refused, saying they did not want to get involved with the thugs. http://liberty.ru/post/V-Astrahani-sovershen-gosudarstvennyj-perevorot In that election, Shein received 26.03% of the vote, while his opponent Sergei Bozhenov got 65.56%. Yes, this is the same Bozhenov who recently, already serving as governor of the Volgograd region, became notorious across Russia for a group trip to Italy on a private jet. And this as well: Electoral Banditry in Astrakhan: This is only the tip of the iceberg. Further work to uncover falsifications and gross violations of the law is being obstructed by the fact that video recordings made by webcams at polling stations in Astrakhan on March 4 suddenly disappeared from the gosuslugi.ru state services website. But let us take a closer look at several especially outrageous examples already available. Here is polling station No. 469. This polling station saw the most famous falsification in the Astrakhan election. It is the only polling station in Astrakhan where, even in the opinion of the Russian Central Election Commission’s working group, a criminal offense was committed—“falsification of the voting results.” At polling stations equipped with KOIB electronic ballot scanners, Shein won almost everywhere.
At polling stations without KOIB electronic ballot scanners, the election commissions counted the votes like this
and observers were not allowed closer than 4–5 meters to the counting area.
There, Shein was “getting” 2–5%.
All of this could once again be dismissed as the “eternal bitterness of the loser,” if not for several important and, by Russian standards, unique circumstances:
Even a special State Duma commission, including members of United Russia, stated in its conclusion: "all the facts presented to the group undoubtedly require serious checks and investigations at the federal level under the supervision of the State Duma of the Russian Federation."
The Presidential Council for Civil Society Development states:
The Council considers it necessary to draw the attention of all branches of government, and above all the Central Election Commission and the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, to reports of flagrant disregard for the requirements of the law during the municipal elections in the city of Astrakhan. It is impossible—whether on moral grounds, legal grounds, or grounds of political expediency—to ignore signals of mass violations of citizens’ electoral rights that have forced people, in defense of their lawful interests, to resort to the extreme measure of nonviolent resistance: a protest hunger strike.
The Churov-led Central Election Commission panel, in an official letter to the president, points to countless violations.
Most of the webcam footage (which, as we were told, “guarantees an honest and transparent process”) is still being withheld under various laughable pretexts.
And yet, the person sitting in the mayor’s office in Astrakhan is still someone nobody elected.
So tell me, those of you who condemn Shein and his comrades for going on hunger strike: what else are they supposed to do in this situation?
Truth, the law, witnesses, video recordings, a parliamentary commission, and even part of the Central Election Commission are on their side—and still nothing happens.
No-thing.
A bandit rules the city. And he does it incompetently: Astrakhan is mired in poverty and neglect.
So they are on hunger strike. Or should they move on to individual acts of terror?
As for me, I am going to Astrakhan today. And I urge you to do the same.
This is the basic solidarity we are capable of showing.
Otherwise, what is our “one for all, and all for one” worth?
Ordinary but brave and courageous citizens, defending their political rights, have turned this into a matter of life and death.
Take your white ribbons, tents, hipster posters, and whatever else you have, and go too.
It is +24°C in Astrakhan, and a train ticket costs 1,500 rubles.
It is also easy enough to get there by car.
There is no special plan stand in the street by day, set United Russia offices on fire by night. No need for melodrama. If you cannot go for long, then go for as long as you can. Wait until two people come to replace you, then head back.
You can tweet and sit behind your laptop from Astrakhan too.
But I am convinced you have to go.
Our entire protest movement is worth very little if we cannot bring protest to where it is needed and where it is expected.
The protesters are not needed now on Red Square, or on Bolotnaya, or on Sakharov Avenue.
They are needed in the city of Astrakhan, at 8 Sovetskaya Street.
Shein, skis, Astrakhan! (a play on a popular Russian phrase meaning “get moving!”)
Update:
Here is the Facebook group
and here is the VKontakte group
for those going to Astrakhan. You can share plans and useful advice.
Transport schedules.
Find a ride with someone going by car.
Update 2:
For those traveling by train: http://kesh0705.livejournal.com/2634.html
Update 3.
Zhenya Roizman roizman will also be coming with his team
And Liza Glinka doctor_liza as well