Navalny seeks right to initiate legal proceedings against Putin
Alexei Navalny, Russian oppositionist and head of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, has complained to the Constitutional Court about the failure of the Tver Court of Moscow to consider his claim against Russian President Vladimir Putin. This was reported by Kommersant on Wednesday.
The oppositionist is planning to dispute in court the regulations of the article that allows courts to refuse administrative claims that "should be considered and resolved within a different court of law." According to Navalny, it makes it impossible to produce an administrative petition to the president. He believes that in connection with this, the article should be acknowledged unconstitutional.
In February, Navalny filed a lawsuit against the President, accusing him of violating the federal law "On Combating Corruption.” According to him, in October 2015 Putin personally allocated nearly two billion dollars from Russia’s National Welfare Fund to Sibur petrochemical holding company, where one of the shareholders is Kirill Shamalov, Putin’s alleged son-in-law by marriage to Katerina Tikhonova. While allocating these funds, Putin did not disclose the conflict of interests, which is a violation of the law, according to Navalny.
The Court explained the refusal to accept the claim by the principle of division of powers and presidential immunity. Kommersant also reports that Navalny’s complaint has been passed to the judge-rapporteur for examination, the results of which may be accepted or rejected by the Constitutional Court.