The trial of Konstantin Dushenov resumed

On August 13, 2008, the trial of the editor-in-chief of the Rus Pravoslavnaya newspaper, Konstantin Dushenov, and Pyotr Meleshko and Alexander Malyshev, accused of inciting national hatred, resumed. The case is being considered in the Kirov Federal Court of St. Petersburg.

Let us remind you that after the court hearing on March 26, 2008 , the case was returned to the prosecutor's office.

At the first meeting, K. Dushenov tried to challenge Judge Ksenia Tretyakova, but his request was not granted.

On August 29, 2008, the Kirov Federal Court of St. Petersburg continued to consider the criminal case. In the case, experts were questioned to determine how similar the “extremist” materials found on Dushenov’s computer were to those that were published under his signature in Rus Pravoslavnaya. According to experts, although the materials are similar, they are not identical - they have about two-thirds in common. The next meeting is scheduled for October 3.

On October 3, 2008, the Kirovsky District Court hearing in the case was postponed to November 7. The reason for the postponement was the illness of one of the defendants, Pyotr Meleshko, and the failure of almost all the summoned witnesses to appear in court.

On March 10, 2009, due to the failure of the main defendant in the case to appear, the next court hearing in the case was disrupted. As an explanation for his absence from the trial, the accused submitted through intermediaries documents confirming that he must appear in the city court at that time. The district court found such a reason insufficient for the defendant’s absence and decided to take him into custody in the event of a subsequent failure to appear. A group of his support gathered outside the courthouse.

On February 3, 2010, the Kirov Court of St. Petersburg sentenced Dushenov to 3 years of real imprisonment to be served in a penal colony. The court also deprived him of the right to engage in publishing activities for three years. Pyotr Meleshko and Alexander Malyshev were sentenced to 1.5 and 1 year of suspended imprisonment, respectively, with a probationary period of 2 years.

Based on materials from right-wing radical sites.

Sources

• The St. Petersburg court questioned experts in the case of the editor-in-chief of "Orthodox Russia" // REGNUM news agency. 2008. August 29.
• The trial of the editor-in-chief of "Orthodox Russia" has begun // Lenta.Ru. 2008. August 13.