People's Freedom Party
Encyclopedia
People's Freedom Party “For Russia without Lawlessness and Corruption” is a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n liberal democratic political party founded on 13 December 2010 by opposition politicians Vladimir Ryzhkov
Vladimir Ryzhkov
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Ryzhkov is a Russian Professor of the Higher School of Economics , Russian independent politician, Russian State Duma member ....

, Boris Nemtsov
Boris Nemtsov
Boris Efimovich Nemtsov is a Russian politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Russia from 1997 to 1998. He was a co-founder of the Russian political party Union of Right Forces and is an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin.-Early life:...

, Mikhail Kasyanov
Mikhail Kasyanov
Mikhail Mikhailovich Kasyanov - was the Prime Minister of Russia from May 2000 to February 2004.He is the leader of the People's Democratic Union and an ex-member of the opposition coalition "The Other Russia".-Political career:...

 and Vladimir Milov
Vladimir Milov
Vladimir Milov is a Russian politician and the president of the Institute of Energy Policy,a Moscow-based independent think tank. He is the former Deputy Energy Minister of the Russian Federation....

. The name is a reference to the original liberal democratic Party of Popular Freedom.

The party is strongly critical of Putin's regime. It's stated goal is to return Russia to the path of democracy and restore respect for the Constitution.

The party has been formed on the basis of a coalition including four organisations:
  • Russian People's Democratic Union (led by Mikhail Kasyanov);
  • Republican Party of Russia
    Republican Party of the Russian Federation
    The Republican Party of the Russian Federation is a pro-reform and pro-democracy political party in the RSFSR and later in the Russian Federation. Nowadays, the party still exists . It is led by Vladimir Ryzhkov and opposes the Putin regime...

     (lead by Vladimir Ryzhkov);
  • Solidarity
    Solidarnost
    Solidarnost is a Russian liberal democratic political movement founded on 13 December 2008 by a number of well-known members of the liberal democratic opposition, including Garry Kasparov, Boris Nemtsov and others from the Yabloko and Union of Right Forces Solidarnost (Солидарность, Russian for...

     (represented by Boris Nemtsov);
  • Democratic Choice (lead by Vladimir Milov).


A number of Solidarity members have decided not to join the People's Freedom Party, including Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....

 and his United Civil Front
United Civil Front
United Civil Front is a social movement in Russia founded and led by chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov. It is part of The Other Russia, an opposition coalition active in Moscow...

 saying that they do not want to participate in unfree elections and waste resources attempting to register an opposition party, which, in their opinion, is impossible. They are also on bad terms with some key members of the Democratic Choice.

Chronology

  • On 16 September 2010, the coalition of four movements was created under the name "For Russia without Lawlessness and Corruption".

  • On 9 October 2010, the coalition held its first rally in Moscow.

  • On 13 December 2010, the party held its founding congress.

  • On 28 March 2011, the party released its report Putin. Corruption
    Putin. Corruption
    Putin. Corruption is an independent report on alleged corruption in Vladimir Putin's inner circle published by the leaders of opposition People's Freedom Party in Russia. The report was presented by them at the press conference on 28 March 2011...

     and started to collect funds for its publication.

  • On 16 April 2011, the party held rallies in Moscow and other cities.

  • On 23 May 2011, representatives of the party submitted to the Justice Ministry the required documents for its registration. Regional offices had been established in 53 regions of Russia, and the number of members had reached 46.158.

  • On 22 June 2011, the party was denied registration.

  • On 23 June, the co-chairmen of the party held a press conference in Moscow. They stated that the Duma elections of December 2011 will be illegitimate without the People’s Freedom Party on the ballot list and that they intended to organize a broad protest campaign.

  • 24 June, the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev
    Dmitry Medvedev
    Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third President of the Russian Federation.Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint...

     commented on the refusal to register the party: “Let them remove the 'dead souls', and then they will be registered. No need trying to be registered with irregularities”.

  • On 25 June, the party held a rally in Moscow under the slogan “Against tyranny! Against corruption! For fair and free elections!”. It was attended by over two thousand people. The co-chairmen of the party, Vladimir Ryzhkov, Mikhail Kasyanov, Vladimir Milov and Boris Nemtsov, made speeches saying they considered the refusal of the Justice Ministry illegal and vowed to continue the political struggle. A passionate speech against Putin was delivered by Ilya Yashin
    Ilya Yashin
    Ilya Yashin is one of the key leaders of the Russian political movement Solidarnost. He is also the leader of the Moscow branch of the People's Freedom Party, in which the Solidarnost participates....

    . The leader of The Other Russia
    The Other Russia (party)
    The Other Russia is a Russian political party established in July 2010 by writer and National Bolshevik Party leader Eduard Limonov. On the 21st January 2011 The Other Russia was denied registration by the Federal Registration Service. -External links:...

     Eduard Limonov
    Eduard Limonov
    Eduard Limonov is Russian writer and political dissident, and is the founder and leader of radical National Bolshevik Party. An opponent of Vladimir Putin, Limonov is one of leaders of Other Russia political bloc.-Early life:...

    , who came to support the democrats, urged the participants to self-exclude from the voter lists. The actress Natalia Fateyeva informed of her decision to join the party and her example was followed by many others. The participants chanted “Elections without opposition is a crime” and "Down with Putin and Medvedev!”.

  • On 2 July 2011, the party held an all-Russia conference in Moscow. The participants took the decision not to make new attempts to register with the Justice Ministry and to appeal the refusal to register the party in court. They declared the upcoming parliamentary elections illegitimate and launched a campaign under the slogan “I do not take part in the farce!”. Boris Nemtsov suggested an active form of protest: “to come to the polls with a felt pen and cross over the ballot papper”. The issue of acceptable forms of party debate was also discussed. In this respect, many participants strongly criticised Democratic Choice, so its leader, Vladimir Milov, temporarily left the hall in protest.

A suit against Putin

On 16 December 2010 Vladimir Putin in a live television broadcast said that in the 90's Nemtsov, Milov and Ryzhkov "dragged a lot of billions along with Berezovsky and those who are now in prison... They have been pulled away from the manger, they had been spending heavily, and now they want to go back and fill their pockets". In January 2011 Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Milov and Vladimir Ryzhkov brought the case of Putin's statement before the Moscow City Court, but next month their suit was dismissed. According to the judge Tatiana Adamova, the names of Nemtsov, Milov and Ryzhkov were used by Putin merely as common names to refer to a certain class of politicians.

Report Putin. Corruption

On 28 March 2011 the party released its report Putin. Corruption
Putin. Corruption
Putin. Corruption is an independent report on alleged corruption in Vladimir Putin's inner circle published by the leaders of opposition People's Freedom Party in Russia. The report was presented by them at the press conference on 28 March 2011...

 and started to collect funds from the public for its publication. A special account in Yandex
Yandex
Yandex is a Russian IT company which operates the largest search engine in Russia and develops a number of Internet-based services and products. Yandex is ranked as 5-th world largest search engine...

 has been opened for this purpose, overseen by a supervisory board of well-known public figures: chief editor of Novaya Gazeta Dmitry Muratov
Dmitry Muratov
Dmitry Muratov is the editor-in-chief of the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta. The Novaya Gazeta has been called "the only truly critical newspaper with national influence in Russia today" by the Committee to Protect Journalists...

, journalist Oleg Kashin
Oleg Kashin
Oleg Kashin is a former seaman and a prominent Russian journalist.-Career:Kashin graduated from the Baltic State Fishing Fleet Academy with a degree in sea navigation in 2001. While studying, he wrote for Komsomolskaya Pravda in Kaliningrad where he expressed rather sharp views...

, economist Irina Yasina and writer Oleg Kozyrev. Over a month 1,838,209 roubles were collected. Then the same board held a tender choosing the printing house, which had offered the lowest price for printing of one copy (4.05 roubles). Thus, it will be possible to print 440,000 copies. The distribution of the report began in June 2011. The account remains open, and the fundraising is continuing.

External links

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