Court declines to compel Justice Ministry to register Navalny's Russia of the Future
MOSCOW. Oct 2 (Interfax) - The Zamoskvoretsky District Court in Moscow has upheld the Justice Ministry's refusal to register Alexei Navalny's party Russia of the Future as lawful, a court representative told Interfax on Tuesday.
"The claim has been fully dismissed," the representative said.
There are plans to challenge the judgment.
The claimants asked the court "to declare unlawful the Russian Justice Ministry's denial of state registration to the political party Russia of the Future on August 23, 2018 and to compel the Russian Justice Ministry to ensure the state registration of the political party Russia of the Future."
Navalny said on August 27 that the Justice Ministry had refused to register his party due to the lack of certain documents, among them several protocols from regional branches on nominations of delegates to the party's congress and two protocols of regional meetings.
The ministry also said it had received amendments to the party charter, rather than an amended charter.
According to the claimants, the Justice Ministry's conclusion that "information submitted for the purpose of the party's state registration proved to be incorrect was not based on the law, since the documents presented for state registration fully reflected the actual activity of the party."
Interfax has not received a comment from the Justice Ministry.
Navalany has been trying to register his party, which was formerly called the Party of Progress, since 2014. The last attempt was made in January 2018. A former associate of Navalny, Vitaly Serukanov, said on February 22 that he had filed a request to register a party of the same name with the Justice Ministry. Amendments to the founding documents of the party Civic Position were registered in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities on March 19, and the organization was renamed the Party of Progress.
Navalny and his supporters had to choose a different name for their party. The founding congress of Russia of the Future was held in May, and the party applied to the Justice Ministry for registration later that month.
The Justice Ministry suspended the registration process in July, saying some provisions of the party charter failed to comply with the law and demanded that the violations be fixed. Navalny and his supporters held another congress in August. A new charter was adopted, and documents were filed with the Justice Ministry again.