Novosibirsk City Council got rid of those who left
[ad_1]
On Wednesday, the Novosibirsk City Council prematurely terminated the powers of independent deputies Sergei Boyko (recognized as a foreign agent) and Helga Pirogova, who have been abroad for a long time. The decision was made at the request of the prosecutor’s office, which found false signatures in their declarations. The deputies promise to sue, but even if they manage to win back the mandates, it will not be for long: from August 1, parliamentarians who left Russia can be deprived of their powers for absenteeism.
At a meeting of the city council on June 28, the chairman of the self-government commission, Igor Atyakshev (United Russia), said that Sergey Boyko and Helga Pirogova violated anti-corruption laws by not providing information on income for 2022. As it turned out during the handwriting examination, the signatures on the notices of the absence of transactions that they filed with the governor’s administration were made by “another person,” Mr. Atyakshev specified. Therefore, the commission recommended depriving both deputies of their powers in connection with the loss of confidence.
Recall that Sergey Boyko and Helga Pirogova were elected to the City Council in 2020 as non-partisan self-nominated candidates and members of the Novosibirsk-2020 Coalition, an informal association supported by supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Mr. Boyko left Russia in the fall of 2021, saying that he feared arrest in a criminal case on the creation of an extremist community: he previously headed the Novosibirsk headquarters of Mr. Navalny (the network of these headquarters was recognized as an extremist organization and banned). And Mrs. Pirogova went abroad in July 2022 after a criminal case was opened against her for spreading fakes about the armed forces of the Russian Federation.
On June 23, the submission of the prosecutor’s office was considered behind closed doors by the Anti-Corruption Commission of the City Council, after which the speaker of the City Council Dmitry Asantsev (United Russia) told Kommersant that the violations identified were “an uncontested and unconditional basis for termination of powers.” The chairman of the anti-corruption commission, Nikolai Tyamin, specified that Helga Pirogova had the opportunity to present her arguments, but did not reveal their essence (previously, Ms. Pirogova reported on social networks that the governor’s administration did not accept her documents), and Sergey Boyko’s application for remote participation in the work of the commission was received too late. Vitaly Zulin, the deputy prosecutor of Novosibirsk, called for a “categorically fair” assessment of the misconduct of the deputies.
It was also not possible to hear Mr. Boyko’s explanations at the session: the deputies refused to give the floor to his assistant Leonid Lifanov. As a result, 38 of them voted in favor of terminating the powers of their colleagues, one voted against, and another ballot was declared invalid.
“We will sue for the simple reason that everything was done as secretly as possible, as closed as possible,” independent deputy Svetlana Kaverzina said after the session, and deputy Anton Kartavin (both were members of the Novosibirsk-2020 Coalition) called claims against signed “some nonsense.” “We consider the deprivation of powers of deputies illegal,” lawyer Olga Nechaeva, who is familiar with the plans of the expelled deputies to go to court, told Kommersant. She confirmed that all notifications about the absence of transactions subject to declaration were sent by mail, and called the city council’s refusal to give the floor to state the position of deputies at the session a “blatant violation”. In addition, none of the deputies of the City Council saw the results of the handwriting examination, Mrs. Nechaeva added.
However, even if Sergei Boyko and Helga Pirogova manage to defend their case in court, this is unlikely to save their mandates. In January, the State Duma adopted amendments according to which the absence of a municipal deputy at meetings without good reason for six months in a row is the basis for early termination of powers. The terms of “truancy” began to be calculated after the entry into force of the law – from March 1, 2023, that is, from August 1, Boyko and Pirogova would somehow fall under the new rule.
The idea of returning direct elections of the mayor of Novosibirsk is recognized as contrary to the law
On June 28, the State Policy Committee of the Legislative Assembly of the Novosibirsk Region considered the initiative of Anton Kartavin, deputy of the Novosibirsk City Council, to hold a referendum on the return of direct elections of heads of municipalities. According to the Legislative Assembly, “having studied the legal positions of the Supreme Court of Russia and the prevailing judicial practice,” the committee recommended that the issue proposed for submission to the plebiscite be recognized as inconsistent with federal and regional legislation.
Recall that in early June, Mr. Kartavin managed to register an initiative group for holding a corresponding referendum on the third attempt. Now, according to the procedure, the compliance of the issue submitted to it with the legislation should be checked by the regional parliament.
According to Tatiana Varda, Head of the Department for Legal Affairs of the Legislative Assembly, the procedure for electing the heads of municipal districts, municipal and urban districts has already been established by the regional law “On Certain Issues of Organizing Local Self-Government”, which was adopted in full compliance with federal law. “Thus, the issue of the initiative group is regulated by these laws,” she said. Now the decision of the committee must be considered at the session of the Legislative Assembly on July 6.
Recall that direct elections of mayors in most municipalities of the Novosibirsk region were canceled back in 2015, and in February 2023, the Legislative Assembly abolished the remaining exceptions by that time – direct elections of mayors of Novosibirsk and Koltsovo science city.
[ad_2]
Source link
