ASTRAKHAN, October 2 - RAPSI. A Just Russia leader for Astrakhan Oleg Shein has decided not to file an application to the European Court of Human Rights over his defeat in the mayoral elections and the dismissal of his lawsuits by several courts, he told RIA Novosti. He does, however, intend to take the matter to the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva.

In March this year Shein lost the mayoral elections in Astrakhan to United Russia candidate Mikhail Stolyarov.

Shein disagreed with the election results, claiming that the vote counting procedure had been violated. He then went on hunger strike together with his supporters for 40 days. He sued the city's election committee in April, seeking to invalidate the election results.

Two months later, the court held against his lawsuit and advised him to file lawsuits against the local election committees in the city's four district courts.

Shein followed this advice, but all four courts dismissed his claims.

Having anticipated the outcome, he said that he was ready to file an appeal with the Astrakhan Regional Court and to send his application to the European Court of Human Rights in September.

Shein spent last week in France, consulting with European lawyers, and has now given up the idea of going to the Strasburg court.
"A thorough analysis of the situation and judicial practice has brought us to the conclusion that our case does not fall within the Strasburg court's jurisdiction," explained Shein.

However, he has decided to try the Geneva committee instead.