Rodina Sues to Remove Yabloko From Pskov Ballot After Winning Duma Removal
After successfully pushing to have Yabloko removed from Russia's State Duma election, the Rodina party has filed a lawsuit seeking to strip the liberal opposition party from the ballot in Pskov, the only region where it still holds legislative seats. The Pskov Regional Court is set to hear the case on August 25.
The Rodina party has turned to the Pskov Regional Court in an effort to have Yabloko's list of candidates removed from the upcoming elections to the regional assembly, according to Yabloko's press service.
Artur Gaiduk, who chairs Yabloko's Pskov branch, said the party is being attacked without rules or legal basis. He argued that nothing gives authorities the right to deprive residents of the Pskov region of the option to vote for peace, freedom and a life without fear, and that no such grounds exist even in the Supreme Court case concerning the registration of the party's federal list. Yabloko's lawyers are now examining Rodina's lawsuit, and the Regional Court will consider it on August 25.
On August 10, Russia's Supreme Court stripped Yabloko of its place on the federal ballot for September's State Duma elections. That decision came in response to a Rodina lawsuit alleging that Yabloko breached copyright law and made unlawful payments for campaign advertising.
Yabloko has been allowed to participate in regional parliamentary races in five regions: Kaliningrad, Novgorod, Sverdlovsk, Tomsk, and Pskov. Of these, Pskov is the only place where the party currently holds seats in the regional legislature and has been cleared to compete in the forthcoming vote.
The Pskov region is also the home base of Yabloko's deputy chairman, Lev Shlosberg, who was sentenced on August 17 to 11 years in prison for repeatedly discrediting the Russian military and spreading false information about it. He was convicted for his public opposition to the war.
