Press release, 12.01.2017

Sergei Mitrokhin, member of YABLOKO Federal Political Committee, head of the Anti-corruption Centre of the party, calls Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev not to support the initiative of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on depriving small business of the right to dispute the monetary value of the premises, that are bought back from the city property, in court.

The politician claims that the proposal of the Moscow government violates the Constitution and contains corruption risks.

According to the Vedomosti newspaper, Sergei Sobyanin forwarded a letter to Dmitry Medvedev with the proposal to deprive entrepreneurs of their right to dispute the purchase price of public property. Sobyanin claims that independent evaluation is “incorrect”. The Anti-Corruption Centre of YABLOKO opposes this initiative.

“Sobyanin has forgotten that Russia has its fundamental law, the Constitution, which ranks above his whim. Let me remind the Mayor that Article 46 of the Constitution of Russia grants every person the right to judicial protection including the right to dispute the actions of the authorities. If entrepreneurs are deprived of this right, the officials will be given the green light to set an arbitrary price, put pressure on entrepreneurs, manipulate them and extort bribes. The state already has a large preponderance in civil relations. We must not tern into a Leviathan which does whatever it wants with impunity,” Mitrokhin said.