Russian Investigators Probe Opposition Party for Fraud

Russian investigators said Wednesday they were probing a leading opposition coalition for fraud after it was barred from registering for regional elections.

The RPR-Parnas coalition, which includes the former party of slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov and that of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was this week disqualified from September polls in the Siberian region of Novosibirsk. 

Authorities said some of the signatures it had collected as a requirement to register for the vote were fake but opposition activists decried the refusal to let them run as politically-motivated. 

"The intentional falsification of the Parnas party's signature sheets to participate in the elections of the Novosibirsk region's legislative assembly will be probed," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Russia's opposition has been marginalized under President Vladimir Putin and the coalition was planning to use its participation in the regional polls as a rehearsal for parliamentary elections next year.

A spokesman for Putin denied the Kremlin was behind the decision to prevent the coalition from standing in the polls.  

"We are talking here about fulfilling certain actions defined by the law," state news agency RIA Novosti cited spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. 

"What to do to register for elections is clearly set out, so this is a question of compliance with the rules and regulations defined by the law." 

The Investigative Committee said it would also probe a claim made by a signature collector, identified only by the last name Nikiforov, who alleged the coalition had not paid him for his work. 

The coalition has denied the allegation and has said it notified authorities of malpractice among some of its signature collectors, including Nikiforov, who they accused of falsifying signature sheets. 

Three opposition activists declared a hunger strike earlier this week to protest having been barred from the poll. 

The men said they would continue their strike until the central electoral committee reviews their case.