The Moscow City Court today, on December 9, upheld the decision of the Zamoskvoretsky District Court on the undesirability of the comedian Idrak Mirzalizade’s stay in Russia. The Ministry of Internal Affairs had previously announced a “life-long” ban for a comedian from staying in the country, Mr. Mirzalizade challenged the ban, and the court of first instance ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to establish a “reasonable” period of unwanted stay. Later, the defense appealed to the Moscow City Court and this decision, however, the appeal, according to the statement of the Moscow City Court, “was left without satisfaction.”
This means that today, on December 9, the decision of the Zamoskvoretsky court came into force, the comedian’s lawyer Sergei Badamshin explained to Kommersant. “Now the Ministry of the Interior has to make a new decision, with a new reasonable timeframe (“ undesirable ”.— “B”)”,- he said. Later, Mr. Badamshin said that he intends to appeal against today’s court decision in cassation.
At the same time, it remains unclear how long the Ministry of Internal Affairs must comply with the court’s decision. The law does not establish the period during which government agencies must comply with court decisions, says Olga Podoplelova, head of the legal service of the Rus Sitting Foundation (included in the register of non-profit foreign agents). “In addition, the execution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Moscow City Court’s decision regarding the establishment of such a deadline will in no way affect the decision to deport,” added Ms. Podoplelova.
Recall that the 29-year-old comedian Idrak Mirzalizade is a citizen of Belarus, the son of a publicist, entrepreneur and philanthropist of Talysh origin Kakhin Abilov (Mirzalizade). At the end of August, the Ministry of Internal Affairs recognized Idrak Mirzalizade’s stay in Russia as life-long undesirable in connection with an extremely controversial fragment of one of the episodes of the humorous show “Acceleration” on YouTube. Some of the viewers found the words of the comedian offensive. According to the police, the author made expressions that incite hatred and enmity towards ethnic Russians. The Ministry of Internal Affairs considered Mr. Mirzalizade’s stay in the country “threatening public order, the rights and legitimate interests of others.” By this time, Idrak Mirzalizade had spent ten days in a special detention center for inciting ethnic hatred (Article 20.3.1 of the Administrative Code).
The ban of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was suspended by the Zamoskvoretsky court until today, December 9. According to Kommersant’s information, Mr. Mirzalizade has been outside the Russian Federation for more than a month.
More details about the case – in the material “Kommersant” “For a joke, excommunicated from the country for life.”
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