Party Navalny deprived of registration

The party of Alexei Navalny is deprived of state registration. The Ministry of Justice of Russia recognized the registration document of the Progress Party as invalid. Information about it and its divisions are excluded from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. As explained in the Ministry of Justice, party branches in a number of regions were registered after the six-month deadline.

Navalny believes that this decision was a reaction to the creation of a democratic coalition that plans to participate in regional elections, and then in elections to the State Duma. According to the oppositionist, it is believed that it is very difficult to liquidate a registered party, and this must be done through the courts. “For us, as usual, there is a legal exclusive: they simply deleted it from the register, recognizing the registration as no longer valid,” he wrote.

The decision of the Ministry of Justice appeal to the ECHR

Navalny also noted that the coalition will still go to elections and “will achieve political representation for supporters of democracy, of which there are many in Russia.” As party lawyer Dmitry Krainev told the Interfax agency, the Progress Party intends to appeal the decision of the Ministry of Justice, first in the Russian courts, and then in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Krainev expressed confidence that before the State Duma elections in 2016, the party’s registration will be restored.

The creation of a democratic coalition in Russia was previously agreed upon by RPR-PARNAS, the Progress Party and the Democratic Choice party. Then they were joined by three more political forces: the December 5 Party, the Civic Initiative and the Libertarian Party. The association was also supported by the public organization Open Russia of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.