A Russian court on Wednesday banned a small radical party accused by prosecutors of planning to raise an armed force and invade neighbouring Kazakhstan, Interfax news agency said. Interfax said the Moscow regional court had outlawed the National Bolshevik Party, headed by maverick leftist writer Eduard Limonov, for breaking legislation on political parties.
"For the first time in 20 years a political organisation has been banned in Russia," Interfax quoted Limonov as saying.
Audacious anti-government protests, including peaceful seizures of government offices, have brought notoriety to the National Bolsheviks.
Dozens of party activists have been arrested for their protests. In 2003, Limonov was given a four-year prison term for illegally possessing firearms, a charge he denied. He was freed earlier this year. Court officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the ban.
But prosecutors said in official charges that party documents contained "calls to create a National Bolshevik army, change Russia's borders and invade Kazakhstan to create a so-called 'second Russia' on its territory".
"It's an idiocy," a leading member of the party, Vladimir Abel, told Reuters. "Even if anyone planned such a crazy thing, how could he get it into his head to put it down in formal documents?"
He said that the party would use all legal means to overturn Wednesday's ban, but had few illusions about the outcome. "We don't trust the judicial procedures in Russia," Abel said. "Their task is to destroy us completely."
Abel said the ban would not force the National Bolsheviks to cease their activities.
"One cannot exterminate a party like that," he said. "The party is first and foremost its people, its ideas, which will continue to exist and act."
The National Bolshevik Party is one of many small radical groups which have mushroomed in Russia, where President Vladimir Putin has imposed tough control on political activities and subdued most mainstream opposition parties.
Many analysts say the Kremlin's tight grip has driven political debate out of parliament and onto the streets, creating fertile ground for radical parties. Abel said National Bolshevik activists would most likely try to register the party anew in time for a parliamentary election in 2007 and a presidential poll a year later.
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