MOSCOW, August 10. / TASS /: Unregistered candidate for Moscow City Duma Lyubov Sobol was detained in Moscow, by the law enforcement authorities, the head of the human rights organization "Agora" Pavel Chikov told reporters on Saturday.
The organization's lawyer is providing legal counsel to Sobol.
"In Lyubov Sobol was detained," he said. Chikov also confirmed for TASS that police came to their client's apartment, but did not give any other information.
Sobol was nominated as a candidate for the Moscow City Duma in the 43rd constituency, but was not registered, the decision of the district election commission to deny her participation in the September elections, was confirmed by the Moscow City Electoral Commission. On August 7, the CEC of the Russian Federation also refused to satisfy Sobol’s complaint about the decision of the Moscow City Electoral Commission to refuse registration. The reason for this was the insufficient number of reliable and valid signatures of voters in her support; in addition, Sobol had incorrectly filled out documents on her property abroad, which is the reason for the refusal to register.
Earlier, CEC chief Ella Pamfilova said the unregistered candidates were free to protest the decision taken by Moscow’s city election commission at the CEC and also file complaints at courts of law. CEC Secretary Maya Grishina said the Moscow city election committee’s decision could be protested within five days and would be considered within a ten-day deadline.
Moscow Duma elections
The Moscow City Duma elections are due September 8. A total of 233 candidates, including 171 candidates from political parties and 62 self-nominees have been registered. Registration was denied to 57 potential candidates, including 39 self-nominees. A total of 129 candidates will be contesting Moscow City Duma seats from parliamentary parties: 45 from the LDPR, 44 from the CPRF and 40 from A Just Russia. Among the registered candidates there are also nominees from the parties Yabloko, the Communists of Russia, Rodina, the Greens and the Party of Growth.
