The Prosecutor General did not find violations in the affairs of political prisoners

The Prosecutor General’s Office did not find violations when making most sentences regarding the defendants of the list of political prisoners, which was transferred to President Dmitry Medvedev at a meeting with an unsystematic opposition, Interfax reports with reference to the audit materials. 32 convictions were checked on behalf of Medvedev. On April 2, it became known about the completion of the audit, but its results were not reported.

According to the conclusions of the Prosecutor General’s Office, all sentences, with the exception of one, were issued reasonably and legally. Two procedural violations were identified only in the investigation of the case of the activist of "another Russia" Taisiya Osipova. These violations served as the basis for revising the previously pronounced conviction against Osipova. The verdict of Taisiya Osipova, accused of storing and selling drugs, was canceled on February 15. In her case, new hearings are scheduled. Human rights activists believe that Osipova was subjected to unreasonable criminal prosecution due to the fact that he is the wife of an activist of another Russia.

On March 5 of this year, Medvedev instructed the Prosecutor General’s Office until April 1 to analyze the legality and validity of sentences to 32 persons who were included in the list of political prisoners . The order was made following the results of Medvedev’s meeting with the leaders of the non -systemic opposition, which took place on February 20. The list includes, in particular, the defendants in Yukos’s affairs Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Platon Lebedev and Alexei Pichugin, physicist Valentin Danilov, a random participant in the strategy-31 campaign, as well as activists of another Russia, convicted of riots on Manezhnaya Square and other cases convicted of espionage.

On April 2, Dmitry Medvedev put a negative resolution on an expert opinion on the institute of pardon, which states that the head of state has the right to have mercy on any prisoner, without waiting for the appropriate application from him. This was announced by the head of the Council for Human Rights Mikhail Fedotov. "The president with him (expert opinion. - Ed.) Don’t agree. The president in his resolution indicated that he does not understand why he should sweeten the person who did not ask for pardon from him," Fedotov said. “This is the opinion of the president. We presented him the opinion of ten experts in the field of constitutional law. He did not agree with them,” the head of the council added.

Medvedev has repeatedly stated that the pardon procedure involves a confession of guilt and the presentation of the convict himself. “If we talk about the pardon of anyone, Khodorkovsky, other persons, then this procedure is carried out in accordance with the rules that exist in our country. In other words, a person must appeal to the president, find himself guilty of committing a crime and asking for a corresponding decision,” Medvedev said in an interview with Italian journalists.

On March 24, the co -chairman of Parnas Boris Nemtsov suggested that before the end of the presidential term, Dmitry Medvedev was expected to have a pardon of a number of political prisoners. “I have hope, this is a rather high probability that a number of famous people who languish in prisons will be free on May 7. I don’t want to jinx it and I don’t want to add anything else,” Nemtsov said, speaking on Pushkinskaya Square. In his opinion, pardon, most likely, will be in April.

The release of political prisoners is the requirement of all winter protests "for honest elections." In February, members of the organizing committee handed over to the Kremlin a list 32 political prisoners, and Medvedev ordered to verify compliance with the rule of law in their affairs. The list includes the "Yukosovites" Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Platon Lebedev and Alexei Pichugin, scientists convicted of espionage, repressed activists of "another Russia" and others.