Those involved in the May 6 riots case do not admit guilt

Yesterday in Moscow, defendants in a criminal case regarding mass riots during the “March of Millions” on May 6 were arrested. According to investigators, businessman Maxim Luzyanin then choked and threw riot policemen to the ground, and unemployed Andrei Barabanov finished them off with his feet. The greatest impression on the court was made by Mr. Luzyanin, whom the investigation was able to identify as the offender of the riot police by his “characteristic prominent muscles,” however, the suspect himself, who was shown a photo from the scene of the events, said that “his body is similar, but his head is not very similar.” Both suspects thus pleaded not guilty.

The first of those suspected of participating in the mass riots was brought to the Basmanny Court for a meeting on choosing a preventive measure, businessman Maxim Luzyanin. Mr. Luzyanin, wearing black sweatpants and a white T-shirt that revealed powerful biceps, the diameter of which exceeded the heads of the police officers accompanying him, left the guard room. Fresh bruises were visible on his forehead—Mr. Luzyanin, as investigators explained, received them when he resisted arrest. It was precisely the prominent muscles, as the investigator stated during the meeting, that became the special feature by which Mr. Luzyanin was subsequently identified as a participant in the street riots. According to the Investigative Committee (IC), when the crowd on Bolotnaya Square tried to break through the police cordon, Mr. Luzyanin, wearing a black mask, began to choke one of the riot police and then knocked him to the ground. As confirmation, a representative of the Investigative Committee showed a photograph in which a man in a mask with a hole for the eyes, with a physique similar to Mr. Luzyanin, is holding an Interior Ministry employee by the throat. Looking at the photo, the suspect stated that “the body shown in the photo is similar, but the head is somehow different.” As the entrepreneur’s lawyer Sergei Shushpanov said, his client is “a typical representative of the middle class with a business, a wife and a child,” so he did not commit any illegal actions at the rally, and a photograph as evidence of his guilt is too weak evidence, and asked to release the suspect on a signature. about not leaving.

Nevertheless, Judge Olga Solopova considered that it was inappropriate to leave Mr. Luzyanin, who was previously convicted of extortion, at large, since he could put pressure on witnesses, try to hide, and his radical inclinations are evidenced by the notes “Navalny is our president” that he left earlier on social networks. However, the Kommersant correspondent was unable to find traces of Mr. Luzyanin’s work on the Internet yesterday.

The next person brought into the courtroom was 22-year-old unemployed Andrei Barabanov, who, according to the Investigative Committee, was finishing off the riot policeman who had been knocked over by a businessman-bodybuilder. “You don’t recognize yourself in the video? I don’t recognize you either, you’re so meek,” Judge Solopova addressed the suspect. He glanced embarrassedly at the mother and girl sitting in the hall. As a representative of the Investigative Committee said, Mr. Barabanov is closely connected with groups of football fans and anarchists, who “can assist him in escaping from the country and intimidate witnesses by setting fire to their vehicles and publishing their data on the Internet.” The suspect himself objected that he had never been a member of any movements, and at the rally, finding himself in the thick of a clash between protesters and riot police, he tried to hide his girlfriend, but was detained. The Magistrate Court found him guilty of violating Art. 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (disobedience to the police) and sentenced him to a day of arrest. “But I did not resist the police, they simply grabbed me and carried me into a paddy wagon,” said Mr. Barabanov. Nevertheless, the court decided to place him under arrest. “In that case, I’m going on a dry hunger strike!” - Mr. Barabanov shouted before he was taken out of the courtroom.

Grigory Tumanov

Basmanny court arrested riot policemen