Completely lost

The head of one of the districts of the Nizhny Novgorod region has not gone to work for almost a year

On January 27, at a court hearing in the city of Kulebaki, Nizhny Novgorod region, the case of early removal from office of the head of local government of the Kulebaki district Nikolai Ryabykin will be considered. This person went on leave in March 2008 and ceased to perform his duties. From that time on, Mr. Ryabykin did not appear in the administration. I just called on the phone and asked to extend my vacation. Motivated by the fact that he was being treated. However, it was not possible to find out where and for what disease Mr. Ryabykin was being treated. It is possible that the court will now cope with this task. Who also has the authority to terminate the powers of the lost head.

As reported by the district prosecutor's office, the acting head of the district, Lyudmila Uzyakova, and Mr. Ryabykin's assistant, Natalya Kuznetsova, who were in contact with the district head, who had been absent for more than ten months, were invited to testify by phone. Important material evidence includes letters sent to the government of the Nizhny Novgorod region by Nikolai Ryabykin (without indicating his location), with a request to extend his leave to continue treatment.

The press service of the regional government explained that there were no responses to the appeals, “because the letters from him were without a return address - there was nowhere to respond.”

“We went to court to establish the fact of a persistent inability for health reasons to exercise the powers of the head of the municipality,” explained the district prosecutor’s office. Since official inquiries about the whereabouts of the head of the Kulebak district at his place of residence and place of work did not yield results.

Nikolai Ryabykin was elected head of local government in October 2005. According to current legislation, the governor does not have the right to prematurely terminate the powers of a popularly elected head due to absence from work. But the regional government also doesn’t want to leave everything as it is. Meanwhile, various rumors about the missing boss are spreading throughout the area. The most incredible of them says that the head of the district is “sitting in the bullpen.” On the other hand, even if this unfortunate fact took place in Mr. Ryabykin’s biography, it is impossible to sit in the bullpen for more than ten months for objective reasons.

A more serious version comes from the depths of a certain metropolitan company, where they consider Ryabykin to be involved in the theft of the Kulebak property of this company and even talk about possible criminal prosecution of the lost head. On the other hand, the Central Internal Affairs Directorate for the Nizhny Novgorod Region claims that the head of the Kulebak district is wanted and is not listed as a suspect.

Today it is known that the government of the Nizhny Novgorod region has begun consultations with the state legal department of the President of Russia, the federal government, as well as with the prosecutor's office of the Nizhny Novgorod region on the possibility of calling early elections.

According to the law, early termination of the powers of the head of the district is possible if he “is declared missing or declared dead.” In the case of Mr. Ryabykin, the first option is more likely.

Sergey ANISIMOV, Nizhny Novgorod