Oleg Shein plans to go to ECtHR after loosing lawsuit on cancellation of Astrakhan Mayor election

Oleg Shein, ex-candidate for the position of Mayor of Astrakhan, does not rule out filing a lawsuit to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case if litigation with the City Election Commission on the case to invalidate the election results, which is under consideration of the Kirov District Court, will not succeed.

Early, on June 13, at the very beginning of the court session, the complainant's side filed a motion to review documents on the formation of precincts election commissions (PECs). According to the plaintiff, it had been done in violation of the rules: the number of commission members, represented by civil servants, exceeded the acceptable part, that is, half of all commission members.

In response, prosecutor asked the court to dismiss the motion, and the court granted the request.

At first, the defence spoke out. In his speech, the prosecutor stated that documents presented to the court, questioning of witnesses and reviewed records of video cameras are no grounds for cancellation of election results.

In his turn, the ex-candidate for the position of Mayor of Astrakhan stated that the prosecutors ignore existing violations in work of the PEC, revealed during the court session.

Besides, the court session read out testimonies of witnesses, which contained indications to violations in the work of the PECs. After that, Oleg Shein decided to review in details the violations at all 129 electoral precincts; however, there was not enough time for all.

"I delivered my speech for about seven hours. We have reviewed 120 (electoral precincts), from 322nd to 504th," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Oleg Shein after the court session. The ex-candidate for the position of Mayor of Astrakhan has noted that today, the announcement of the violations will be continued.

Oleg Shein accuses the prosecutors of inconsistency. "In April, Oleg Dupak (the Prosecutor of the Astrakhan Region, note of the "Caucasian Knot") claimed violations only at three electoral precincts. 1.5 weeks later, Churov, Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC), stated that violations were revealed at 129 electoral precincts. At present, the prosecutors presented a proposal to cancel our lawsuit, since they believe that the committed violations allow determining the will of the voters. I am convinced that it is impossible to determine the will of the voters in conditions, when at 80 percent of electoral precincts, no marks were announced and it was not stated how many votes were cast for any candidate, and at 7 electoral precincts, no ballots were counted at all, and that fact was confirmed by the public video record," Oleg Shein emphasizes.