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Novosibirsk court fines opposition Parnas party activist for disobeying police

Earlier another seven Parnas activists were fined for disobeyance to the police with the head of the Democratic Coalition party headquarters Leonid Volkov among them
Head of the Democratic Coalition party headquarters Leonid Volkov TASS/Evgeniy Kurskov
Head of the Democratic Coalition party headquarters Leonid Volkov
© TASS/Evgeniy Kurskov

NOVOSIBIRK, July 29. /TASS/. Novosibirsk’s central district court has fined Parnas party activist Vyachslav Gimadi for 1,000 rubles (around $17) for disobeying a police officer, the court’s press service said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, another seven Parnas activists were fined for 500-1,000 rubles for disobeyance to the police. Among them were head of the Democratic Coalition party headquarters Leonid Volkov and candidates to the Novosibirsk Region’s Legislative Assembly Yegor Savin and Sergey Boyko.

On July 27, Novosibirsk regional election commission refused to register the Parnas party (part of Democratic Coalition) for election of deputies to regional legislative assembly. "Our decision made today was justified both from material and procedural point of view. I have always called for staying in the legal framework. The party has an opportunity to appeal the decision in higher election commission or regional court," head of Novosibirsk election commission Yury Petukhov said.

Only 10,340 signatures supporting the Parnas party were recognized as valid while the minimum number of signatures required for registration stands at 10,657. The session of the working group checking the validity of signatures supporting Parnars lasted for 10 hours.

After the session, several activists, including Volkov, Savin and Boyko, announced a hunger strike. Refusing to leave the office of the Novosibirsk election commission chairman, they protested against refusal to register the Parnas party for election. The activists were later taken to the police station by officers.

Representatives of the party said they do not agree with the decision made by Novosibirsk regional election commission and will appeal it in Central Election Commission.

Ivan Zhdanov, a member of the regional branch of the Parnas party, filed a complaint about falsification of election documents by a member of the Novosibirsk regional election commission. Press service of Russian Interior Ministry’s department in the Novosibirsk Region told TASS that the police are working on Zhdanov’s complaint. "A check is being carried out, necessary materials will be collected and handed to the Investigative Committee for a decision," the press service said.