Press Release, 22.03.2019

The first hearings on the lawsuit of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko to the City Duma were held in the Chelyabinsk Regional Court. The regional branch of the party asks the court to invalidate the decisions of the City Duma approving the regulations on the procedure for holding a competition to select candidates for the position of head of the city of Chelyabinsk, as well as to announcing a competition and electing the head of the city of Chelyabinsk, because they violate the rights of the competition participants and city residents.

The mayor of Chelyabinsk is not elected in direct elections, but by the City Duma from among the candidates submitted by the competition commission on the results of the competition. At the same time, the competition commission is formed 50 per cent from among the deputies of the City Duma, who were not directly elected by the residents either, and 50 per cent from among the persons proposed by the Governor, who, as the highest official of the region, has no right to influence local self-government bodies. Virtually all members of the competition commission are closely associated with the United Russia party. As a result, this procedure secured in 2019 the post of the head of Chelyabinsk for Vladimir Yelistratov, United Russia member and the former deputy head of the city.

At the beginning of the trial, Yaroslav Shcherbakov, Chairman of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko, filed a motion to conduct Internet broadcasting of the trial, but the judge rejected the motion despite the fact that the trial was an open one.

The Chairman of the regional branch of the party noted that initially the judge was going to examine the case in one session, but after the parties reviewed the documents he transferred it to 23 April.

“The reason for postponing the meeting was that, looking through the case materials, I did not find a conclusion on the results of anti-corruption examination of the situation, although representatives of the respondent claimed that it was admitted,” Yaroslav Shcherabakov said.

In addition, the court additionally requested the following: Public Prosecutor’s assessment of the case as of corruption elements, the final protocol and evaluation sheets of the competition commission based on interviews with candidates that the commission had refused to demonstrate before.

Earlier a citywide rally “For the return of elections for mayor” organized by the regional branch of the Yabloko party, had been held in Chelyabinsk. Over 1,000 signatures were collected during the rally under the petition demanding the return of the direct elections of the head of the city.