Firing of Russian head of school standing up for civil rights

After students and teachers had taken part in anti-government protest and the head of school Nr.24 in Nizhny Novgorod Yelena Moiseyeva refused to give authorities a list of names over protest participants, she was fired without an explanation. She got informed in a letter that referred to a clause in Russia’s labor code that allows authorities to fire staff at state institutions without explaining the cause.

The general perception is that Yelena Moiseyeva has been purged because of taking position to protect students and staff that share opposite opinion than the authorities, as being supporters to opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. A relative to Moiseyeva, who does not want to be named, says this was not the first time close to an election that she was under pressure to snitch on students and protesters.

As a result of the firing collegues at School Nr.24 in Nizhny Novgorod have published an online petition that Moiseyeva will be reinstated in office as they embrace her work at school. The petition was written:

“She built a signature school founded on the principles of democratization, political and religious neutrality, the subjectivity of every student and teacher”.

According to given sources the authorities take every chance to influence school leaders and all leaders at Russian state institutions in order to take control of the result of upcoming election in September.