24 September 2023, 17:16
Court in Elista fines activist for failed rally
The Elista City Court has obliged Tseren Basangov to pay a fine of 10,000 roubles for calling for participation in an unauthorized rally. At the same time, the court has ignored the fact that the rally never took place, Valery Badmaev, a journalist, has noted pointing out that this issue should be considered by the Constitutional Court.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Tseren Basangov had submitted a notice to the city Mayoralty to hold a rally dedicated to the problems of housing and communal services and public transport. The event for up to 300 people was supposed to be held on August 23, but the Mayoralty refused to sanction the rally and offered to postpone it. The rally was held online.
Authorities must take into account people's incomes when approving housing and communal tariffs; people's costs should not amount to more than 8-10% of the minimum subsistence level, the participants in the online rally in Elista have stated.
Valery Badmaev, the editor-in-chief of the "Modern Kalmykia" outlet, has explained that Basangov was brought in for violating the provision that campaigning for an event can only be carried out after it has been sanctioned. "And he filed a notice, and immediately began writing about the event in social networks. He, in fact, simply informed about his actions. But this was regarded as propaganda. On this basis, he was brought to justice," Mr Badmaev has explained, pointing out, however, that there was no rally as such. "They found a formal violation; they got caught up in it, and that's it," the journalist has summed up.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 22, 2023 at 11:59 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: СK correspondent
