At trial on Oleg Shein's lawsuit, court hears witnesses from electoral precincts in Lenin District of Astrakhan

On May 22, the Kirov District Court of Astrakhan began to consider materials on the lawsuit filed by Oleg Shein, the ex-candidate for the position of City Mayor, relating to electoral precincts in the Lenin District. Witnesses, speaking at the trial, reported on a number of violations in the course of the election of City Mayor.

While examining the attached materials, the court revealed absence of protocols of several precinct election commissions (PECs).

Sergey Scherbakov, the member with advisory voice of the Regional Election Commission, was the first witness questioned from the plaintiff's party. Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" has represented the video interview with Sergey Scherbakov, in which he reported that he had been twice beaten at the Lenin Territorial Election Commission (TEC) of the city of Astrakhan. In the same video record, Andrei Krutov, the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, reported that he had been twice taken out from the territory of the same TEC, when he tried to monitor counting of the election outcome. Sergey Scherbakov reported that he filed a complaint to the UVD (Interior Department) about the fact of beating; however, no criminal case was instituted.

The next witness, questioned in the courtroom, was Andrei Krutov, the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party, who on March 4, on the single day of voting, was the observer and the confidant of Sergey Mironov, the leader of the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" Party, at the TEC of the Lenin District of Astrakhan. According to Andrei Krutov, one of the men, who refused to introduce themselves and "performed unknown functions", in rude form asked him to leave the TEC building. Having noticed that he observes from the TEC hall the arrival of representatives of PECs, policemen forced him out of the building.

Besides, Mariya Kochetova, the member with advisory voice of the Territorial Election Commission of the Lenin District of Astrakhan, was questioned in the courtroom. In her testimony, she told the court that on March 4, at about 10:00 p.m., the members of the TEC were approached by staff members of a private security company, representatives of the police, and Mr Lazarev, the head of the Lenin District of Astrakhan, who with the use of physical force removed Andrei Krutov and Sergey Scherbakov from the electoral precinct. According to Mariya Kochetova, not all people were allowed to enter the basement, where the ballots were stored. According to her, when she tried to record all events at the election commission on the video on her mobile phone, unidentified persons threatened her to break her mobile phone and remove her from the TEC, and the policemen failed to interfere. Furthermore, Mariya Kochetova reported that she saw a policeman holding a list of people not to enter the TEC, and the list included her surname and the surname of Sergey Scherbakov.

Mikhail Lozin, the member with advisory voice of the Territorial Election Commission of the Lenin District of Astrakhan, told the court that the observers and the members of the Commission were at a distance of about 15 meters from the tables with ballots, and when the observers made attempts to approach the tables, they were forced out, accompanied by the policemen.

Besides, the court session questioned witnesses from the PECs Nos. 436, 440, 444, 457, 460, 462, and 470. The witnesses claimed impossibility to control sorting and counting of votes and reported that the police suppressed the observers' attempts to control the situation, and also spoke of refusals in conducting photo and video records, violation of procedures of sorting and counting of votes.