The Ingodinsky District Court, Chita has rejected Platon Lebedev’s appeal against inaction on the part of the Prosecutor General.

Delivering this ruling, the Court noted on Thursday that there had been no infringement of the law in the actions of Prosecutor General Yury Chaika. The appeal submitted to him alleging unlawful conducting of the investigation had been considered in a timely fashion, and Platon Lebedev had been informed of the outcome, the Interfax-Yug news agency correspondent reports from the courtroom. A copy of the ruling, the absence of which had prompted the attorneys’ protest, is provided only if requested, the court emphasised.

As already reported, Lebedev’s appeal against unlawful conducting of the investigation had been received at the Prosecutor’s Office by the Prosecutor General on 28 February 2008, had been registered on 3 March, and on 4 March passed to Prosecutor Valeriy Lakhtin who, on 20 March, sent Platon Lebedev notification of the complete rejection of his appeal.

In the Prosecutor’s opinion, failure to deliver a copy of the ruling on the appeal was not a violation of Platon Lebedev’s constitutional rights, since he and his attorneys could have obtained it from the Prosecutor’s Office if they had so chosen.

The attorneys considered the Prosecutor’s argumentation unlawful. ‘Informing me of the ruling means giving me a copy of the ruling,’ Lebedev said.

A fax copy of the ruling on the appeal was sent to Chita from the Prosecutor General’s Office only on 22 July.

The attorneys had petitioned the judge to issue an interlocutory ruling to Prosecutor Lakhtin for failing to provide Platon Lebedev with timely notification.

(Interfax, 31 July 2008)