Oktyabrsky district court of St. Petersburg discontinued the proceedings in an administrative lawsuit to the city legislative Assembly about the inaction of the deputies in the consideration of the referendum on the status of St. Isaac’s Cathedral. About it reports TASS.
“The court considers that the alleged party to the substance of the request involves judicial intervention in the legislative activity of the representative body, which is inadmissible, the court considers that these requirements are not subject to resolution in administrative proceedings,” said judge Elena Nikolaeva.
According to one of the plaintiffs, the Deputy of city Parliament Maxim Reznik, the court has no right to impose a solution, because “the legislative Assembly does not fulfill its function without performing the actions stipulated by the legislation”.
The plaintiffs believe that the deputies had to solve the question about the possibility of holding a referendum in April. On may 3, the legislative Assembly did not include in the agenda the matter, and at the meetings on 17 and 24 may MPs by a majority of voters took the issue to the agenda. According to the regulations, after two failures, a referendum can be included in the agenda not earlier than in a month.
Application to hold a referendum by an initiative group of 22 people came in late February. In March the city electoral Commission recognized the documents collected by the initiative group of the referendum, the relevant legislation. After that the documents sent to the legislative Assembly for approval. The final stage is to gather signatures for a referendum to vote not less than two percent of the electorate (75 thousand people).
In January, the St. Petersburg authorities have agreed to transfer to St. Isaac’s Cathedral to the gratuitous use of the Russian Orthodox Church for 49 years. The Governor’s Decision caused the discontent of the citizens.