Opposition activist Alexei Navalny has filed a lawsuit against the Russian president due to refusal by authorities in various Russian cities to approve the holding of his rallies.
“The court has registered Alexei Anatolievich Navalny’s administrative lawsuit against the Russian president to declare unlawful the latter’s action or inaction,” Anastasiya Dzyurko, the spokesperson for Moscow’s Tverskoi District Court, told Interfax on November 3.
The court will decide on the admissibly of the claim within the legal time limit, she said.
Ivan Zhdanov, a lawyer of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, told Interfax that in his complaint, the opposition activist requested the court to declare illegal the president’s actions related, in his opinion, to mass refusals of local authorities in various cities to authorize his rallies.
“It is about relation of refusals in approval of events in [constituent] entities,” Zhdanov said.
The lawsuit is about 800 pages long, the lawyer said.
“Overwhelming evidence showing how local administrations all over the country operate in an orderly and synchronized manner under clear instructions from Moscow” will be presented in court, Navalny said on his website.
“We have been sending about 200 requests every week and getting refusals everywhere. [Refusals are] absolutely illegal. As you know it, one cannot simply legally prohibit a rally. Authorities have an obligation to suggest an alternative venue. […] We, and myself personally, have no doubts that these activities are being coordinated from Moscow. Officials in all cities cannot just begin acting in an equally unlawful manner without special instructions,” he said.
In February 2016, Moscow’s Tverskoi District Court refused to accept for consideration Navalny’s lawsuit against the Russian president, who, in his opinion, had breached anti-corruption law, as the complaint was not due for consideration in administrative proceedings.
