At trial on lawsuit for cancellation of election of Astrakhan Mayor, witnesses claim violations

In Astrakhan, at the court session on the lawsuit filed by Oleg Shein, ex-candidate for the position of Mayor of the city, to cancel the results of Mayor election, plaintiff witnesses have been questioned.

The "Caucasian Knot" has already reported that at present, the court considers a lawsuit filed by Oleg Shein to cancel election outcome. On April 20, The Kirov District Court of Astrakhan conducted the first interviews with the parties. During the interviews, the court decided to bring to the case all four Territorial Election Commissions (TECs) of the city, and representatives of the Regional Election Commission as witnesses. Prior to filing a lawsuit to the court, Oleg Shein's team stated that it expected confirmation of violations in at least 120 from 202 electoral precincts.

On May 11, the Kirov District Court of Astrakhan listened to 16 witnesses from Oleg Shein's side, the "Interfax" reports.

However, according to Oleg Shein's information, which he publishes in his blog at "Live Journal", 15 witnesses had been questioned during the court session.

"The fence of the chairs had been formed around the table, and it was impossible to approach the table. Police threatened to remove observers, when they tried to come closer to the table. The chairperson assorted ballots personally and did not show his marks to anybody. The counting procedure was carried out by bending a corner and by shifting. Oleg Shein won with a margin of 700 votes against 500 votes. The protocol was signed by all members of the commission. They refused to show the extended form of the protocol. The protocol was not recorded by webcam and was not read off. No final session was conducted. A copy of the protocol was not issued, only the chairperson signed the document, refusing to put a seal. The State Automated System (SAS) "Vybory" (Election) has registered 1200 votes in favour of Stolyarov, and 49 in favour of Shein," Oleg Shein quotes in his blog in "Live Journal" witness Yuri Khudaliev, authorized representative of Doliev at the Precinct Election Commission (PEC), as testifying.

Besides, according to Oleg Shein's report, at the trial, violations at the election were confirmed by the following observers, members of the PEC with consultative voices and members of the PEC with decisive voices: Makurina, Nikolaeva, Kashirskikh, Belova, Ismukhanov, Yuyukova, Kuskov, Chistyakov, Liya Tychkova, Alexander Dyakonov, Viktor Kazakov, Denis Dyakov, and Natalia Lopatnikova.

The next court session to consider the lawsuit filed by Oleg Shein to cancel the results of election of Astrakhan Mayor was scheduled for May 12.