In Lermontov, hunger-strikers announce continuation of their protest action

The number of participants of the protest action in the form of hunger strike in the city of Lermontov of the Stavropol Territory has already reached 38 persons. According to them, they do not intend to stop their protest action. Yuri Turygin, Prosecutor of the Stavropol Territory, established in the city a temporary reception of the Prosecutor's Office.

According to recent information, the number of participants of the hunger strike in Lermontov has reached 38 persons. This was announced by the public and information urban website that gives a list of all participants.

"Generally, they are not candidates, and they do not belong to any party. They are the people who came to support us," said Viktor Kapustin, ex-candidate for deputy, one of the participants of the hunger strike.

He has noted that Alexander Knyazev, the candidate for deputy, the participant of the hunger strike, who had been earlier hospitalized, left the hospital and approved by the court to participate in the elections. However, Viktor Kapustin believes that this is an isolated incident and that other ex-candidates participating in the hunger strike will not be admitted to the elections.

"He (Knyazev) has got almost unanimous voting of the territorial election commission, and we have got a voting like a rehearsal not to allow us to participate in the elections in accordance with the court's decision. At present, anyone will unlikely be allowed to participate in the elections, since yesterday the court in the Stavropol Territory held hearings on my case and cases of other two deputies. Our claim was dismissed," Viktor Kapustin has explained.

He has added that Mikhail Markus, the second hospitalized participant of the hunger strike, stays at the hospital and continues to refuse food.

Besides, Viktor Kapustin confirmed that neither he nor the other hunger-strikers are going to stop the protest action, the "Gazeta.Ru" reports.

Yuri Turygin personally visited the protesting residents of the city, listened to them and had a conversation with them. Inspections held by the Prosecutor's Office on the citizens' complaints revealed violations of the electoral law and in connection with that fact the City Prosecutor made a presentation to the Chairman of the territorial election commission. However, according to the Prosecutor's Office, those violations have been eliminated in a timely manner, and they did not form a pretext for refusing registration of candidates by the election commission and by the court in consideration of the relevant issues.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the participants of the protest action have challenged all the decisions, with which they did not agree, in the court. At present, the court has more than 50 complaints in consideration; on March 2, the claim for annulment of the decision for early elections of deputies of the Lermontov Council of the 5th convocation is to be considered. All sessions are held with the participation of prosecutors, the message on the website of the Prosecutor's Office states.

Yesterday, on February 29, representatives of the authorities of the Stavropol Territory and Alexei Selyukov, Ombudsman for the Stavropol Territory, talked to the participants of the hunger strike. Alexei Selyukov has said he believes that the hunger strike in Lermontov is "a counterproductive measure"; however, he has taken an appeal of one of the protesters and promised in the coming days to submit his opinion on lawfulness of the courts' decisions. In their turn, the participants of the hunger strike believe that the conversation with the authorities of the Stavropol Territory did not succeed, the "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" reports.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Alexander Khloponin, Plenipotentiary Envoy of Russian President to the North-Caucasian Federal District, criticized the hunger strike and said that "form of the protest is a dead-end and is also harmful to health." The Plenipotentiary Envoy has also noticed that the Stavropol Territory and the administration are willing to negotiate; however, the subject for discussion is not yet clear.

The hunger-strikers claim that the City Council in Lermontov was disbanded artificially. The election commission of the Stavropol Territory declares full compliance of the procedure with the law, and the Central Election Commission (CEC) recommends not to cancel the local elections in Lermontov.