MOSCOW, February 7 - RAPSI. The Supreme Court will hear on February 8 a petition filed by opposition leader Grigory Yavlinsky, the founder of liberal Yabloko party, who challenges the Central Election Commission's refusal to register him as a presidential candidate for the upcoming presidential election, the court's web site reported.

Yabloko's other leader, Sergei Mitrokhyn, told RIA Novosti that Yavlinsky filed the lawsuit with the party's legal support.

Yavlinsky seeks to cancel the commission's January 27 decision dismissing his candidature. He also requests the court to order the commission to register him as a presidential candidate.

The Central Election Commission dismissed Yavlinsky from the presidential race by rejecting 25 percent of the signatures gathered to support his candidature.