In Smolensk, the former mayor was not allowed to attend the city council session

Photo: Eduard Kachanovsky Smolensk

Eduard Kachanovsky wrote a statement to the prosecutor’s office.

On February 28, a planned session of the city council was held in Smolensk. The meeting was open, but ultimately not for everyone. Former deputy of the city council and regional duma, ex-head of Smolensk Eduard Kachanovsky was not allowed to enter the meeting room. Kachanovsky announced this on his VK page on the same day, publishing the text of a statement addressed to the prosecutor of the Smolensk region, Sergey Karapetyan. The former mayor applied not only as a resident of the city, but also as a politician – chairman of the regional branch of the political party Rodina.

Who turned out to be so powerful that he “spit” on the Charter of the Heroic City of Smolensk, in which it is said in black and white in Chapter 4, Art. 12, paragraph 4: “Residents of the city of Smolensk have the right to attend public meetings of the city council of Smolensk”?

We decided to find out how the case was first hand, from Mr. Kachanovsky himself. According to him, he arrived an hour before the start of the event to participate in the meeting of the municipal council. But he was not allowed to cross the frame at the entrance, citing that another event was being held in the hall. Closer to the start of the meeting, Kachanovsky was again barred from entering, saying the seating issue was being resolved. After 10 a.m., the politician was refused entry because the session had already started and it was impossible to disrupt it by showing up in the room.

If the prosecutor’s office finds out the perpetrators, the heads of the representative body of local self-government cannot prove such. They seem to have nothing to do with it. Everyone will write off the “switchers” who blocked the entrance. And the lack of free chairs. But Ilf and Petrov have chairs, and the Charter says nothing about them.

When asked if the deputies knew that Eduard Kachanovsky had decided to exercise his right to attend the session, our interlocutor explained that many walked along the corridor and even greeted him. Why didn’t they help the citizen of Smolensk to get to the public session, the ex-mayor said: some looked away: some to the side, some up. He considered it below his dignity to break through a fight.

At the end of the session, the city council of the VKontakte community happily reported: “The deputies considered 46 issues, many of which were of a social nature.”

Eduard Kachanovsky proposed to recognize as illegal the decisions of deputies during the 33rd session. Here is the text of his statement to the regional prosecutor:

“In violation of the regulations of the Smolensk city council, approved by the decision of the 9th session of the Smolensk city council of April 30, 2021 No. 147, the law on political parties 95FZRF of July 11, 2001, I, EA Kachanovsky, the February 28-23, was denied participation in the 33rd regular session of the Smolensk city council. In this regard, I believe that the decisions taken by the deputies were not correct. Contradictory to the constitutional letter of the law (67FZ of the Russian Federation) and laws on local self-government, obliging to take into account the opinions of each citizen. And since the source of power in Russia according to the Constitution of the Russian Federation is the people, then I ask you to recognize the non-admission of a citizen to the session of the council of the municipal formation of the heroic city of Smolensk as a crime against the constitutional system of the Russian Federation. In this respect, I ask you to recognize as illegal the decisions of the deputies during the 33rd session, the authors being held responsible. I ask you to inform me of the decision taken within the deadlines set by law.

Sincerely, E. Kachanovsky. February 28, 23.

Session in Smolensk for once again was full, as in long forgotten times. But if for some reason there were not enough chairs today, perhaps for the convenience of citizens it was worth hanging a sign on the frame: “there is no empty seats”? After all, how many times have we been convinced that local authorities are our closest.

More recently, in his message to the Federal Assembly, the President of the Russian Federation once again recalled the role of local self-government, the public authority closest to the people, recalling that “confidence in the he State as a whole, the well-being of citizens and confidence in the success of the development of the whole country largely depend on its work.

It’s a shame when only an insufficient number of chairs with soft seats interferes with privacy.