The Constitutional Court of Mari El recognized points 1-5 of the law adopted at the end of December 2016 on the provision of social support measures in accordance with the principle of targeting constitutional. The decision was published on April 25 on the court website.
The regional human rights commissioner Larisa Yakovleva initiated the request to the Constitutional Court on the legality of the changes. According to Yakovleva, the adopted law infringes rights of a large number of residents of the republic.
On December 15, 2016 state assembly made amendments to the regional law on measures of social support: privileges for free fares in public transport, for housing and communal services were abolished or reduced, monthly payments to various categories of elderly people were determined.
On January 5, 2017 participants of a rally in Yoshkar-Ola demanded to return the republican benefits. Leonid Markelov, who was a head of Mari El, said that benefits were not canceled. Subsequently, a decision was made to restore the benefits of specialists in education, culture, health and sports working in the countryside.
