Moscow: Russian opposition figures have criticized a planned law on restrictions for candidates in the Duma election as a targeted attack on supporters of jailed dissident Alexei Navalny.
It is another “anti-Navalny law,” Leonid Volkov, a close confidant of the 44-year-old leading opposition figure, wrote on Twitter.
Several deputies had introduced a bill in the Russian parliament on Tuesday that would deprive members of extremist organizations of their voting rights for years. This could soon affect many Navalny supporters.
Currently, a Moscow court is deciding on a request by the prosecutor’s office to classify various Navalny organizations as extremist, DPA reported.
The opposition figure’s regional political staff were already put on the list of extremist and terrorist organizations by the responsible financial supervisory authority Rosfinmonitoring at the end of last week.
Navalny’s associates have criticized the procedure as politically motivated.
According to the bill, former leaders of an organization classified as extremist – but also those who have financially supported the association in the past – are no longer allowed to run for a seat in parliament.
Volkov wrote that the lawmakers’ action showed fear of Navalny associates such as prominent lawyer Lyubov Sobol. Sobol wanted to run for a seat in parliament in the Duma election this autumn.