MOSCOW, September 12 (RAPSI) – The lower house of Russian parliament on Thursday rejected a bill to establish the institution of ombudsman defending the rights of disabled persons in Russia.

The draft law has been submitted by the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR). It proposed to set the disabled rights commissioner institution, determine its legal state, main purposes and powers and fix basic principles of the ombudsmen activity in the country’s regions.

Earlier, the State Duma committee on social policy recommended that MPs defeat the initiative as there are enough authorized bodies involved in the protection of rights of disabled citizens including the federal ombudsman and the country’s child rights commissioner and special commissions and councils for problems of disabled persons.

According to the committee, a similar bill was once thrown out by the State Duma in 2016.