Penza, 1 October 2015. PenzaNews. The head of the Russian unified democratic party “Yabloko” Sergei Mitrokhin addressed the Penza region prosecutor Natalya Kantserova to make a submission to the city administration for removing the Joseph Stalin monument installed by Communist Party members on Kirova street.

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The Penza city hall “confirmed illegality of monument installation” in the relevant reply to the party address, the head of “Yabloko” points out.

“However, the necessary measures to remove an unauthorized construction still were not taken. I am concerned by the order of the Penza city administration to CPRF to negotiate the approval for the monument, without taking any measures to remove it. I find this requirement insufficient, as the monument is already installed with violation of Russian legislation, and the construction must be removed as per Line 2, Part 2, Art. 222 of the Civil Code,” reads his letter, which was made available to PenzaNews agency.

Sergei Mitrokhin placed particular emphasis on the fact that the regional branch of CPRF in their public reply “practically refused to comply with legal demands of the Penza city administration,” which “demonstrates a requirement for a prosecutor to react on the aforementioned case.”

In a further comment on the situation, the head of “Yabloko” stressed that his party twice attempted to address the prosecutor’s office and the city hall after obtaining the confirmation for their position, but none of the state bodies issued demands to demolish the monument so far.

“The Penza mayor [Yuri Krivov] and I have the same understanding of the law: the monument should have been installed only after negotiating its approval. But our understanding of consequences for its violation differs. I believe the monument must be removed. The Communist Party not only ignored the fully legal order of the mayor, but defiantly claimed it will not negotiate for its approval. It is high time for the prosecutor’s office to intervene and demand to remove the monument to the dictator,” Sergei Mitrokhin stated.

He also added he has nothing against the adoration the Communists show to Joseph Stalin.

“If the Communists want to worship Stalin, let them move him indoors, or even to their own flat, it’s their option after all. But not in the public location. The city administration demanded to negotiate over it too late. It is not enough right now. If the monument installation violated the law, as we were saying right from the beginning, they should remove it and only then ask the city administration for permit on the Stalin monument in the city where hundreds of innocents had been gunned down,” Sergei Mitrokhin concluded.