Translated material
Taisiya Osipova's sentence was left unchanged
The Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Smolensk Regional Court upheld the decision of the Zadneprovsky District Court regarding Taisiya Osipova.
On Wednesday, the judicial panel of the Smolensk Regional Court considered cassation appeals against the sentence of T. Osipova, pronounced by the Zadneprovsky District Court on August 28, 2012. In accordance with it, the accused was found guilty of attempted sale of drugs and preparation for sale on an especially large scale and was sentenced to 8 years in prison to be served in a general regime colony .
The verdict was appealed by both the prosecution and defense. When considering the case in the court of first instance, the prosecution demanded a sentence of 4 years in prison, the defense argued that T. Osipova was innocent.
When considering cassation appeals, the prosecution asked to cancel the court's decision regarding the exclusion of a number of material evidence and send the case for a new trial, as well as take into account all mitigating circumstances.
Lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina noted that the European Court of Human Rights in September 2012, when considering the case against Russia “Veselov and others,” recognized that operational search activities cannot be the only evidence of guilt . S. Sidorkina believes that the accusation against T. Osipova is entirely based on materials from operational search activities.
“I draw the court’s attention to the fact that Taisiya Osipova has been in custody for 714 days, and all this time the defense has drawn the court’s attention to her state of health and the need for her participation in raising a young child,” said S. Sidorkina.
Lawyer Natalya Shaposhnikova, in turn, noted the dependence of a number of key witnesses on police officers, which cast doubt on the reliability of their testimony. “In addition, people interested in the outcome of the case were used as witnesses,” said N. Shaposhnikova. The court, she said, showed no interest in the identity of the classified witnesses on whose testimony the prosecution is based. The lawyer also noted that a number of eyewitness evidence confirms T. Osipova’s assertion that the drugs were planted on her by operatives.
The state prosecutor in her speech refuted the defense’s assertion about the provocative nature of the operational search activities carried out against T. Osipova. “Information about the illegal activities of T. Osipova was received by two departments independent from each other,” the state prosecutor said, noting that the operational search activities were not of a political nature.
The defense, in turn, presented a number of evidence proving that the operational search activities against T. Osipova from the very beginning were of a political nature and were aimed at preventing the activities of the illegal National Bolshevik Party (NBP).
Taisiya Osipova, who was present during the consideration of cassation complaints via videoconference, stated that the testimony of witnesses was unreliable.
After the end of the meeting of the judicial panel, Osipova’s lawyers Svetlana Sidorkina and Natalya Shaposhnikova announced that they intended to appeal to the supervisory authority of the Smolensk Regional Court, which has the opportunity to commute the sentence or send the case for a new trial, and then continue the fight in the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights.
Taisiya Osipova was detained in the fall of 2010. According to investigators, she was involved in drug trafficking. During a search, several grams of heroin were found on her. In addition, as part of the investigation of the case, test purchases were carried out, during which Osipova allegedly sold drugs. Osipova's supporters believe that her persecution is connected with the activities of her husband Sergei Fomchenkov, who is one of the leaders of the Other Russia party.
Despite the fact that Taisiya Osipova was diagnosed with diabetes and a number of other diseases, as well as the fact that she has a young daughter, the court refused to change her preventive measure based on numerous requests from the defense. In August 2012, Osipova was sentenced to eight years in prison, although prosecutors had asked for a four-year sentence.