The Moscow City Court has banned the Russian ultra-left Army of People's Will (AVN) opposition movement for being an "extremist organization."
The movement, created a decade ago, calls for constitutional amendments giving voters more control over the actions of their politicians. Their goal is to establish a system under which the president and the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, are "directly responsible to the people" by being given state awards for good deeds and prison sentences for failures.
The Moscow City Court has ruled that AVN's ideology includes unlawful calls for forced changes to the Russian constitution.
AVN leader Yury Mukhin previously received a two-year conditional sentence for inciting extremist activities.
Mukhin has dismissed the ruling, saying that the AVN's only goal is the holding of a referendum on the constitutional amendments.
AVN representatives said they would appeal against the decision in the Russian Supreme Court.
MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti)
