Analysts in Arkhangelsk all agree that the arrest is a “political blackmail of Larisa Bazanova ahead of the upcoming court case”, news site Rusnord.ru reports. Police in Arkhangelsk says however that yesterday’s arrest of Mr. Sergey Bazanov has nothing to do with the upcoming court case of his wife, and that it is “based on a crime committed in 2007”. Larisa Bazanova sued the Arkhangelsk city election commission after she was deprived the victory in the May 15 city mayor’s election. The election commission first declared Ms. Bazanova, a representative of the political opposition, the winner of the elections, but then officially altered the results after a recount demanded by regional authorities. Ms. Bazanova and her supporters quickly declared that the election results had been manipulated and sued the election commission. Evidence of the fraud was quickly found and showed to the public. Still, despite overwhelming evidence, the court chose not to declare the elections falsified and made noted only minor violations in the work of the election commission. In the upcoming appeal case, the pressure against the election commission will be no less. Rusnord.ru calls the Bazanova-case “one of the biggest political court cases in Russia the last years”. The case has shed a wave of negative light on regional authorities. Political scandals have been abundant in Arkhangelsk over the last few years. Last year, city mayor Aleksandr Donskoy was arrested for six months and subsequently dismissed from his post after a conflict with regional governor Nikolay Kiselyov.
