MOSCOW, December 24 – RAPSI. A Moscow Commercial Court judge has launched a complaint with the Council of Judges alleging that chairman Sergei Chucha pressured him to resign from the bench, Kommersant daily reported on Monday.

Alexander Ivanov reportedly claims that the chairman baselessly dismissed him from hearing a number of bankruptcy cases.

Ivanov also told the daily that the court’s chairman ordered him to resign from the bench, threatening otherwise to strip him of his judicial powers.

The judge refused to resign after he was allegedly subjected to pressure, which evidenced the administration’s misconduct.

The Moscow Commercial Court’s press service told Kommersant that the chairman refused to comment on the matter.

In early December the daily reported that another Moscow Commercial Court judge – Yelena Zolotova – filed a complaint with the Investigative Committee claiming that she was subject to the chairman’s pressure during the consideration of the Sistema vs. Russian Railways dispute which dealt with the sale of 25% of the railway company's shares.

Zolotova granted the requested provisional measures having prohibited Russian Railways' board from selling the stake. The judge claimed that she was pressured to cancel the measures.