MOSCOW, September 4 (RAPSI, Alexei Afonsky) – Russia’s Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal filed by Vladimir Putin, a namesake of the Russian president, against the authorities’ refusal to register him as a candidate for the parliamentary elections in Bryansk, RAPSI reported from the court on Friday.

On August 6, the Bryansk Territorial Election Commission decided to reject Vladimir Putin’s application to register as a candidate for the upcoming local parliamentary elections. The reason behind the refusal was that 10 percent of the signatures presented as proof of public support for his nomination were invalid. A working group that analyzed the matter concluded that the potential candidate’s documents on his property outside Russia and the financial report on his election campaign were not filed on time.

Putin appealed to the Bryansk Region Court, which upheld the Territorial Election Commission’s decision as legal and substantiated.

During a Supreme Court hearing on Friday, the plaintiff repeated his arguments and said that the creation of a Territorial Election Commission’s working commission to consider his matter was contrary to the law.

The Bryansk Territorial Election Commission and prosecutor’s office rebutted Putin’s arguments and said that the lower court’s decision in his case was legitimate and substantiated.

The Supreme Court rejected Putin’s appeal, thereby depriving him of the opportunity to run for the local legislature on September 13.