You can't argue against family

Yekaterinburg human rights activist Alexey Sokolov, arrested on suspicion of robbery, will remain in custody for at least another month and ten days. This is what the judge of the Verkh-Isetsky District Court, Evgeny Zyryanov, decided. On July 13, investigator Konstantin Adushkin’s petition to extend Sokolov’s preventive measure in the form of detention was considered. The court agreed with the investigation, despite the petition of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Lukin and the position of the prosecutor's office, which was represented by the head of the department of the prosecutor's office of the Sverdlovsk region I. Nadymov. The prosecutor's office said that Sokolov could be released on bail of at least 300 thousand rubles. Sokolov's defenders did not agree with the court's ruling and are planning to appeal it in cassation. At the court hearing, new guarantees were presented from Moscow human rights activists - the leader of the movement “For Human Rights” Lev Ponomarev and the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseeva.

As Andrei Naletov, one of the leaders of the Fund for the Defense of Prisoners’ Rights, notes, the petition of investigator Konstantin Adushkin was approved by his boss, Vladimir Adushkin, who is also his father. “Apparently, such a family tandem is not afraid of any law,” Naletov writes in his blog.

Alexey Sokolov was arrested on May 13 in front of his two-year-old daughter. He headed the Legal Framework organization, which protects the rights of prisoners. In particular, in 2008, Sokolov investigated and made public the death of four prisoners in a colony in the city of Kopeisk, beaten to death by guards. His organization participated in the organization of several actions demanding the resignation of the head of the Sverdlovsk Federal Penitentiary Service, and made a documentary about torture in prisons. He was detained on suspicion of robbery on the territory of Uraltermosvar CJSC in Bogdanovich in June 2004. The criminal case was suspended, but was resumed in the spring of 2009. Suspected repeat offender Belyash testified about Alexei Sokolov’s involvement in this story. Sokolov’s wife is sure that Belyash slandered him under pressure.