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Russia’s Ex-Prosecutor General Finds Protection in Europe
The European Court for Human Rights ruled on Thursday to support a claim from a former Russian top prosecutor who contended his exclusion from a candidate list in 2003 parliamentary election. Experts do not think that the verdict will create a precedent for Russian courts but say it may forces judges and election officials to think twice before rushing to execute the Kremlin’s orders.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia must pay ˆ8,000 in compensation and ˆ12,000 in legal costs to Yuri Skuratov, Russia’s former Prosecutor General.
Yuri Skuratov ran as a one-mandate candidate and a Communist party candidate in the 2003 election when he was denied one-seat registration due to “incomplete information” about his job title. Russian election authorities said that Mr. Skuratov had stated his job as department chair at State Social University but did not mention that he is also a professor there.
The European Court said in a communiqué that the denial of election registration had not been based on important and sufficient reasons.
Meanwhile, another claimant in the case, Alexander Krasnov lost his suit when he was barred from running in Moscow mayor and Duma election in 2003 with the same reason. Mr. Krasnov had been dismissed as head of Moscow’s Presnya district before the registration but did not mention it in his election documents. The Strasbourg-based court decided that Mr. Krasnov was intentionally misleading votes by this omission.
Yuri Skuratov said Thursday he is happy about the verdict but its timing makes any further actions to amend the situation impossible as a new election is in the offing.
Analysts note that election authorities have recently been to eager to exclude Kremlin-averse candidates from running in elections due to alleged omissions of information. Mr. Skuratov said he hopes that the decision will strip election officials “of a sense of permissiveness because there are still institutions that will get you, anyway.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 20, 2007
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