Charges against blind pensioner for disrupting elections in Sheltozero

On November 10, the court hearing in the case of blind pensioner charged with a disruption of the Elections of Sheltozero rural settlement Head in Karelia. The court ruled that there was no corpus delicti.

The judge Boris Tseplyaev of Prionezhsky District Court dismissed the administrative case against the local resident of Sheltozero village Valentina Polina, who was accused of illegal campaigning in the Elections of settlement Head, reported IA ‘Republic’.

According to investigators, on the eve of elections, the election commission member, a citizen Yegorova, saw her neighbor, the visually impaired Pauline, in the stairwell at the mailbox. Following that Yegorova checked her mailbox and found a photocopy of the official voter invitation card issued by the election commission on which a hand written comment ‘against all’ was added and a check mark was put next to it. Yegorova informed the commission about illegal campaigning and that she saw Polina at that moment passing by the mailboxes. The commission addressed the police. The police issued a protocol in regard to Polina.

Valentina Polina pleaded not guilty, said the agency. She said she could not put anything into the mailboxes, as she simply could not see them. Valentina Ivanonva was very upset when she learned that her case will be heard in court, she could not attend the case hearing as well due to the health condition.

Photo by Maxim Tikhonov

We would like to remind that the Elections of Sheltozero Veppsian rural settlement Head that were held on the single day of voting, 13 September 2015, were declared invalid due to the fact that 62.75% of voters (315 persons) who cast their votes, voted ‘against all’. The Territorial Election Commission (TEC) of Prionezhsky district took the decision to hold repeat elections of the settlement head on December 6 2015.

On the eve and of the Election Day several persons were carrying out illegal campaign at the entrance to the polling station, calling to vote ‘against all’. As a result, the elections were declared invalid, as it was posted on the CEC website of the Republic of Karelia.

The chairman of Karelian CEC Alexey Bahilin said that ‘in Sheltozero forged voter invitation cards on behalf of the PEC were disseminated, calling to vote ‘against all’. Law enforcement agencies shall identify persons involved in this offense, because it delivered not only a blow to the electoral system, but also misled voters and implicated the action of ‘big organized group’ which was engaged in discrediting the elections.

Journalist Maxim Tikhonov published a strange story of Valentina Polina on his ‘Facebook’ page. Tikhonov told the story about the recent visit of law enforcement agents to the pensioner, totally blind Polina. Police tried to elicit confession how she produced and distributed illegal campaigning materials. ‘Valentina Ivanovna tried in every possible way to rebut the absurd accusations and to persuade the police officer that she had not done anything like that. However neither her words, nor the obvious reason that this woman is hardly physically capable of conducting incriminated offence convinced him. The policeman issued an administrative protocol. Of course Valentina was not able to familiarize with the protocol. He jabbed at the protocol with his finger where to sign. She signed ...’,- writes Tikhonov.

After a while Valentina was summoned to appear in court, wrote Tikhonov. She had to appear on October 21 in the 7th Section of the Magistrates Court in Petrozavodsk, which had to rule on administrative charge against her under the Article 5.12 of the Administrative Code stipulating liability for illegal production and distribution of campaign materials during the election period.

Previously, there were some reports that the court invalidated the elections of settlement head. On 24 July 2015, Prionezhsky District Court of Karelia ruled that the inaction of the Sheltozero administration had been illegal and ordered the officials to allocate funds from the local budget for the preparation and holding the elections of the settlement head at the expense of the territorial election commissions (TECs) of Prionezhsky region.

On 17 June 2015, the Councillors of Sheltozero settlement announced the date for elections of local head - 13 September 2015. TEC of Prionezhsky region approved the draft budget, however the administration of Shelotozero did not transfer the full amount to the account of TEC (30 thousand rubles out of the 55 thousand 530 rubles). In this regard, the Prosecutor of Prionezhsky district addressed this issue to Prionezhsky District Court. Failure to transfer the full amount of foreseen funds for the preparation and holding of municipal elections threatened the election process.