19:11, 21 June 2016

Saint Petersburg’s Election Committee rejects application for referendum on Kadyrov Bridge

Rally against naming bridge after Kadyrov, Saint Petersburg, June 6, 2016. Photo: Tatyana Voltskaya (RFE/RL)

The Election Committee of Saint Petersburg refused to register the initiative group, which stands for holding referendum on naming one of the city bridges after Akhmat Kadyrov. This was reported today by Boris Vishnevsky, a Deputy of the City Legislative Assembly, who added that the decision of the Committee is illegitimate and would be surely appealed against.

"The reason for rejection was that we allegedly failed to prove the fact of the meeting of the initiative group. The City Election Committee asked for a protocol on election of the chairman and secretary of the initiative group," the RIA "Novosti" quotes Mr Vishnevsky as saying.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 30 the Saint Petersburg’s Toponymic Commission supported the idea of naming the bridge over the Dudergof Canal after Akhmat Kadyrov. The application for a referendum, in which citizens could express their attitude to this idea, was submitted on June 8. However, on June 15 the city governor ruled to make the above naming.

On May 30, the website Change.org published a petition against the above naming. By now, it has gathered 98,278 signatures.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.