17:41, 14 February 2014

Olympic Organizing Committee rejects fan's passport for oppositionist Maxim Katz

Maxim Katz, a Deputy of the Municipal Assembly of the town of Schukino and a member of the staff of Alexei Navalny at the election of Moscow Mayor, was denied a fan's passport for the Sochi Olympics by the decision of the Organizing Committee (OC).

The oppositionist wrote in his blog in the "LiveJournal" that he was confident that receiving a fan's passport was "just a kind of formality." "I have no convictions; I was even never detained; and no state ever had any questions to me. On the contrary, I'm a Deputy and run social activities," Maxim has expressed his bewilderment, explaining that he had booked a hotel, bought air tickets and tickets to some sporting events.

"I called the contact centre, where they told me that my application was rejected on the initiative of security services," said Maxim Katz.

Let us note here that this is not the first case of denial of access to the Olympics for opposition figures and human rights activists.