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Communists Rally in Russian State Duma to Push Anti-Corruption Law

Vedomosti

The Russian Communist Party has urged the country's State Duma to ratify the UN's Convention Against Corruption, RIA Novosti reported Wednesday.

Russia passed the convention in 2006 but refused to ratify the document in its entirety.

Communist Party Deputy Leader Nikolai Kolomeytsev implored politicians to pass the convention's controversial Article 20, which lays out measures against “illegal enrichment.”

The article would prosecute state officials who could not reasonably explain “a significant increase of assets in relation to his or her lawful income.”

The cause has previously been championed by activist Alexei Navalny, who gathered 100,000 signatures demanding the article's ratification in February 2015.

The petition was thrown out by the Kremlin's open government committee, which claimed that Russian law could not prosecute officials without solid proof that their assets had been obtained illegally.

The Communist Party also released a similar petition in 2013, which was unsuccessful after gathering 115,000 signatures. 

Articles 34 and 35, which address the consequences of corruption and providing compensation for its victims, have also not been ratified.

The move comes just over a month after Navany's Anti-Corruption Fund revealed details of a luxury summer home often frequented by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Milovka Manor, located five hours northeast of Moscow by car, boasts a marina, a ski slope, three helipads, a special communications tower, and a small castle dedicated exclusively to the manor's ducks.

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