Russian Court Strikes down Navalny's Lawsuit against Putin
The Tver Court of Moscow refused to accept the claim of the founder of the Fight against Corruption Fund, Alexei Navalny, against Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Friday, February 12th, the decision of Judge Tatyana Molitvinaya appeared on the court's web site. It says that in accordance with the Constitution, "the Russian president has immunity."
As the judge indicated, in the scope of administrative legal proceedings, no requirements can be made of the head of the State "because it would constitute a clear violation by the court of the principle of division of powers and a wrongful interference with the constitutional-legal and other-activities of the President of the Russian Federation."
On the eve of this, Navalny filed a lawsuit against Putin in connection with the allocation of budgetary funds from the National Wealth Fund to the petrochemical company SIBUR, in which the President’s son-in-law Kirill Shamalov is a shareholder. Navalny believes that in this situation, Putin has to declare a conflict of interest and should not have issued the order financing the enterprise.