World Court

The “victims” of St. Petersburg Yabloko leader Maxim Reznik renounced all claims against the “offender”

Having shaken hands with each other yesterday in the hall of the federal Dzerzhinsky district court of St. Petersburg, three employees of the detention group of the OVO of the Central District Department of Internal Affairs, as well as the leader of the St. Petersburg “Yabloko” , Maxim Reznik, who, according to the investigation, beat them in word and deed, parted ways . The criminal case against the politician has been dropped.

Let us recall that Maxim Reznik was detained on the night of March 3, 2008 (immediately after the end of the presidential elections in Russia) after the “march of dissent” in which he took part. Mr. Reznik stood up for a party colleague who had a conflict with the police. Moreover, while saving his comrade, Maxim Reznik, as eyewitnesses said, beat the policemen and accompanied his actions with strong expressions.

As a result, a criminal case was opened against Mr. Reznik for using violence against government officials and for insulting them, and the accused himself was arrested. The court then considered that, as a well-known politician, he could put pressure on the investigation. Therefore, the politician spent almost three weeks in jail. But Yabloko members raised a wave of protest, up to the request of the then party leader Grigory Yavlinsky, during a personal meeting with Vladimir Putin, to pay attention to the Reznik case. As a result, Maxim Reznik’s preventive measure was changed to a written undertaking not to leave the place, under which he was still under.

All of the above events took place under the close supervision of the press, which monitored every step in this criminal trial. Moreover, the case unfolded on the eve of the April All-Russian Democratic Conference in St. Petersburg, the organizing committee of which was headed by Maxim Reznik.

A lot of people came to yesterday's court hearing, which took place after a three-month break. Everyone was waiting for a decision - guilty or innocent. Moreover, in April the parties to the conflict stood very firmly in their positions. Maxim Reznik stated that the police were engaged in arbitrariness, and representatives of law enforcement agencies did not call Reznik anything other than “gopnik”.

Imagine the surprise of all those present at the trial when two of the three victims submitted petitions to Judge Andrei Shibakov to withdraw all claims against the accused, and the third victim submitted a similar statement through his lawyer. As a result, the meeting ended after ten minutes, when the presiding officer announced the termination of the criminal case due to the reconciliation of the parties.

Maxim Reznik sat with the police officers who were offended by him (but not offended) on the same bench. They smiled at each other and joked, and then, shaking hands, said goodbye and each went their separate ways. The private security officers quickly disappeared in an unknown direction. And the politician, of course, went to the press. He said that all three policemen were actually great guys. And that he was imprisoned not because of them, but because of some third force, which, like a “gray cardinal,” runs everything and which does not like the fact that he, Maxim Reznik, lives in this country, speaks the truth and does not has a criminal record: “I know the people who put me in prison. There were no formal legal grounds for this, it was a purely political step. I have not forgiven these people anything and will continue my political struggle.”

Mikhail TELEKHOV, St. Petersburg