Without trial and regulations

Gdov deputies deprived their colleague of his powers due to having a second citizenship

Former deputy of the Gdov District Assembly Alexey Malov suggests that he may return to the representative body of the municipality. Photo: Artyom Avanesov

On April 21, 2015, deputies of the Gdovsky District Assembly voted for the early termination of the powers of their colleague Alexei Malov on the proposal of the district prosecutor. Malov himself insisted that the issue of his parliamentary powers be resolved not at the session, but in court. However, one does not interfere with the other: the decision of the Assembly, controversial from the point of view of regulations, will be challenged in court by another deputy, Dmitry Ashikhmin.

Pskovich Alexey Malov became a deputy of the Gdovsky district assembly on the list of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the elections of March 2012. Over the course of three years, he brought the Gdovsky district to the top of mentions in the regional media with his initiatives related to the development of the regional communal infrastructure and the fishing industry. Alexey is also known to PG readers as the organizer of the independent counting of votes in last year’s gubernatorial elections - the “Open Election Commission” project.

It is necessary to learn the equipment

The issue of early deprivation of his powers was brought up at the 27th session of the Gdov District Assembly by the prosecutor's office of the Pskov region. The district prosecutor Andrei Kalinin , who became famous for his successful fight against dual citizenship among parliamentarians while still serving as head of the investigative department of the Investigative Committee for the Pskov Region, reported to the deputies.

Three years after the elections, the regional prosecutor's office discovered that one of the deputies of the Gdov district did not have the right to be such because of his second citizenship. Russia did not sign an international treaty with Estonia, according to which holders of Estonian passports could take seats in local parliaments. Accordingly, Alexey Malov, who received Estonian citizenship in 2006, does not have passive voting rights, that is, in theory, he could not become a deputy of the Gdov District Assembly following the elections on March 4, 2012.

The fact that the municipal deputy has dual citizenship was confirmed by the prosecutor's office of the Pskov region through the National Bureau of Interpol and the State Prosecutor of Estonia. Later, Alexey clarified for Pskov Province that, in general, he himself managed to submit a notification to the Federal Antimonopoly Service after the corresponding amendments to the law “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation” were adopted last year. At the time of the session, this notification was considered lost, and an investigation was underway against Malov with the prospect of initiating a criminal case.

“Malov himself does not dispute the existence of citizenship of a foreign state. At the same time, neither at the time of his election as a deputy of the Gdov District Assembly, nor in the future, Malov reported that he had Estonian citizenship,” Andrei Kalinin said.

Having listed the norms of federal legislation, which are contradicted by “the very fact of Malov’s execution of deputy powers,” the district prosecutor asked the deputies to satisfy the request.

“Why didn’t you go to court with this proposal, but want to do it with our hands?” – Deputy Dmitry Ashikhmin , elected on the LDPR list, asked Kalinin.

“I already told you at the commission, dear deputy Ashikhmin,” Andrei Kalinin switched on the expert mode, “before creating regulatory legal acts ourselves, it is necessary to learn the materiel.”

The “material part” is that the prosecutor’s office has the right to choose how to seek to restore the rule of law, and in this case prefers to submit it to the district Assembly.

Why not go to court, the hero of the proceedings himself soon explained.

“You and I, Igor Gennadievich, will leave the Assembly”

“Understanding that such a situation could happen even at the stage when I was registered as a candidate for deputy, understanding that in the previous fourth convocation our colleague, deputy of the current fifth convocation Igor Gennadievich Filippov , worked in a similar situation, I decided for myself in the legal field , that is, in the court of the Gdovsky district, to establish whether a citizen with a residence permit in another state has the right to hold a deputy position,” Alexey Malov began to explain.

Even during the election campaign, on February 20, 2012, he filed a claim with the Gdovsky District Court to invalidate the decision of the TEC to register Igor Filippov as a candidate for deputy of the District Assembly. At the time of the election of deputies to the district Assembly of the 5th convocation, he had a residence permit in the Republic of Belarus, with which there is also no corresponding international agreement. Filippov served the entire 4th convocation with this residence permit. On February 24, the court rejected the claim, citing missed deadlines. This decision also stood in the Pskov Regional Court.

At the time of the elections, both candidates were in completely equal conditions in terms of passive voting rights, emphasized Alexey Malov.

“If this fact is confirmed in court, you and I, Igor Gennadievich, will leave the Assembly,” he warned his colleague.

In 2012, the district prosecutor's office took the side of Igor Filippov and asked the court to reject the claim due to violation of the deadlines for appealing the candidate's registration. Now the same prosecutor's office and the same Igor Filippov insisted that Malov illegally holds a deputy mandate. The concept, as they say, has changed: no one was interested in an open secret three years ago - second citizenship - today has become a compromising fact.

Alexey Malov, however, did not look compromised, no matter how hard his opponents tried.

“So you knew you were lying and still ran for deputy?” - United Russia deputy Tatyana Chudakova was indignant. “Yes, I did.”

Malov suggested that his colleagues reject the prosecutor’s proposal and leave this issue to the court, “rather than shifting it to the deputies.”

“As a deputy, you could resign yourself,” Igor Filippov, whose residence permit in Belarus has now expired, came up with the idea. “If you think that this fact will somehow free me, then you should know that this is one of four episodes of law enforcement activities (and by the way, the most real) that occur with my participation. I’ll tell you even more: my children and my wife are involved in these matters. Therefore, I don’t believe that if I renounce my citizenship, they will leave me behind,” Alexey Malov revealed his cards.

Who will remember the old...

The Gdov District Assembly tried to follow the procedure as much as possible. First, they voted separately to make the decision secretly. Then they discussed the wording of the question for about fifteen minutes and held another vote - for the composition of the counting commission. Then we spent a few minutes agreeing on the graphic form of the expression of will (“Let’s decide right away: if for, there’s a tick before the “for”, if against, there’s a tick before the “against”). In a word, they did everything they could - taking into account the fact that the regulations of the Gdov District Assembly do not stipulate the procedure for early deprivation of powers of a deputy.

As a result, of the 11 ballots cast by the deputies into the ballot boxes, eight had a check mark for the early deprivation of Malov’s powers and three were against it.

Now the deputies had to decide whether the decision was considered adopted or not.

United Russia member Valery Demyanchuk, who presided (in the absence of Speaker Svetlana Grass ), read out the articles of the regulations closest to the case. The regulations required that some issues be resolved by two-thirds of the votes of the established number of deputies, while others had to be voted for by “more than 50%.”

“How will we count in this case - more than half or two thirds?” – Demyanchuk addressed the audience.

The paradox was that if we counted on the established number of the deputy corps, then both options meant that the decision had not been made. There are 16 deputies in the Gdov district assembly. Accordingly, 2/3 is 11 votes, and more than 50% is 9 votes. Alexey Malov recalled that when the decision was made on the deputy heads of the district, the prosecutor’s office indicated that 8 votes was not a majority.

“Don’t point to the old ones, all these moments!” – Andrey Kalinin took control of the situation.

The prosecutor convinced the deputies that since there is a quorum and the agenda has been adopted, it means that the available number of deputies is sufficient to resolve the issue of early termination of the powers of one of them. Thus, the deprivation of a deputy mandate was equated to procedural issues - they say, a simple majority of those present would be enough. In this case, eight votes out of eleven are quite enough.

“Friends, you accused me of breaking the law: I did not have passive voting rights and, accordingly, I have no right to be here. Now you interpret the regulations for yourself. Well, it’s your choice, of course!” – Alexey Malov threw up his hands.

To close the gestalt, the Assembly voted again - this time openly - for the draft resolution. Now it was clear that Alexey Malov was not supported by either his colleagues in the communist faction, or the only Yabloko member present (the other two deputies from the Yabloko party, including faction leader Alexander Konashenkov , did not come to the session).

Commenting on the results of the session for the Pskov press, which was literally losing interest in the Gdov region before our eyes, Malov did not express a desire to continue the fight for the mandate: “How can we work with them then?” However, at the time of preparation of the material, it became known that deputy Dmitry Ashikhmin decided to challenge the voting results. A statement was prepared to the Gdovsky District Court with a request to “recognise as illegal the decision of the Assembly of Deputies of the Gdovsky District No. 214 of April 21, 2014 in connection with a violation of Art. 18 of the Rules of the Assembly of Deputies" and impose interim measures "on possible actions of the Gdovsky district election commission to transfer the vacant mandate of a deputy from the electoral association of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation to another citizen."

It also became known on Tuesday that the investigation into violation of the law “On Citizenship” against Alexey Malov had ended, and the initiation of a criminal case was refused. Apparently, the same fate awaits the remaining “episodes of law enforcement activities,” which included arson, threats with an ax and income tax evasion. At the time of going to press, law enforcement officials had not yet made a final decision.