Press Release, 08.11.2016

On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasburg unveiled its decision on the complaint of the Karelian branch of the YABLOKO party and several party representatives acknowledging violation of their rights to free election due to the fact that their and the party registration in the election to the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia in 2006 was cancelled. The applicants complained that they had been arbitrarily excluded from participation in the election.

The regional conference of the Karelian branch of YABLOKO which nominated candidates to run in the elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia took place in August 2006. In early September 2006, the regional office of the Federal Registration Service applied to the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Karelia with a statement that YABLOKO conference had been held in violation of the law. The Central Electoral Commission of Karelia, in its turn, appealed to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Karelia to annul its decision on registration of YABLOKO candidates in the election. This action demand was satisfied, and later the Supreme Court upheld the decision on withdrawing the Karelian branch of the party from the election.

The complaint to the ECHR was sent by Irina Petelyaeva, who in 2006 held the post of the Chair of the Karelian branch of the party, as well as members of the Karelian branch of YABLOKO Alexander Klimchuk and Ksenia Filipenkova. The applicants complained of a violation of Article 3 of Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to free elections.