A court in St. Petersburg gave the governor the opportunity to dissolve the council of the Smolninskoye municipality, whose deputies had earlier proposed removing Russian President Vladimir Putin from office. About this publication “Fontanka” Deputy Nikita Yuferev said.
According to the municipal deputy, the decision was made by the Smolninsky District Court, which satisfied the demand of the prosecutor’s office.
The city attorney’s office went to court back in 2021, citing the council not meeting for more than three months. But the hearings were constantly postponed. And only after the opposition deputies decided to ask the State Duma to impeach Putin, the case moved forward, Fontanka notes.
The court found that the municipal council had been inactive for three months. The head of the council, Grigory Rankov, was ill at that time.
Also on Tuesday, it became known that the Smolninsky court fined one of the deputies of the Smolninskoye formation, Dmitry Palyuga, 47,000 rubles, finding him guilty of “discrediting the authorities.” The reason was the appeal of the deputies of the municipality to the State Duma with a call to accuse Putin of treason for unleashing a war against Ukraine, the site’s correspondent reports. North. Realities.
Judge Svetlana Reznikova ruled that Dmitry Palyuga “publicly addressed an indefinite circle of people with a speech aimed at discrediting the current government.”
The deputy’s lawyer, Nikifor Ivanov, is convinced that the politician’s actions are not discrediting the Russian authorities. Ivanov noted that the statement of Dmitry Palyuga can be considered as an opinion or position expressed during the voting, for which administrative responsibility is not provided.
Dmitry Palyuga pleads not guilty. Speaking before the court, he drew attention to the fact that he acted within his powers. He regards the emergence of an administrative case against him as an obstruction of the deputy’s activities, Palyuga believes. The defense plans to appeal the court’s decision.
- On September 7, the deputies of the Smolninskoye district decided to call on the State Duma to bring charges of treason against Putin in order to remove him from office due to a military invasion of Ukraine. According to the deputies, the war harms Russia’s security. Later, seven deputies were summoned to the police. For five, protocols were drawn up on discrediting the army.
- Similar appeals for Putin’s resignation were issued by several other deputies from various municipalities of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Vyborg.