Translated material
Political pressure: media digest (April 2-8, 2015)
"Swamp business"
Investigation in the case of Ivan Nepomnyashchikh completed
“Investigators have charged Ivan Nepomnyashchikh, a defendant in the criminal case of mass riots on Bolotnaya Square on May 6, 2012, in the final version, his lawyer reports. "The charges were brought in the final version. My client refused to testify, he will testify at the trial," Dmitry Dinze, the defendant's lawyer, told Interfax. According to the current legislation, after the presentation of the final charge and the completion of the preliminary investigation, the parties will have to start getting acquainted with the case materials, after which it will be sent to the prosecutor's office. The Basmanny Court of Moscow at the beginning of the week left Nepomniachtchi under house arrest, the preventive measure was extended until September 6, 2015.
prosecution
Pavel Vazhenin reduced his sentence from three to two years
“The Presidium of the Moscow City Court commuted the sentence of Pavel Vazhenin, a defendant in the case of the riots on Manezhnaya Square in December 2010. This was reported to the Moscow Agency in court. “The Presidium commuted P. Vazhenin's sentence from three to two years,” the court clarified. Earlier, the Tverskoy Court found P. Vazhenin guilty and sentenced him to three years in prison in a penal colony. The Moscow City Court upheld the verdict.
Boris Stomakhin's cellmate told the court that he was ordered to rummage through his belongings
“At the trial in the Moscow District Military Court in the new case of Boris Stomakhin, Sergey Gusev, a former cellmate of a political prisoner in the capital’s SIZO-4 Medvedkovo, was interrogated via video link from the pre-trial detention center in Pskov. This was reported from the courtroom by the correspondent of "Faces". "I was asked to collect information about Stomakhin. I passed the notes to the operative. He read everything," Gusev said. He admitted that at the end of March 2014 he brought Stomakhin's notepad to Medved's operative Vladimir Silivonets, who was interrogated during the first hearing in the case . When asked by lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina if they promised him anything for this, Gusev refused to answer. Gusev noted that he had almost no contact with Stomakhin. According to Gusev, when the terrorist attacks took place in Volgograd, his cellmate said about the explosions that this is how it should be. At the same time, he kept some notes that he handed over to the lawyer. There was no other way to send anything from the pre-trial detention center - the prisoners' phones were confiscated. "Stomakhin had a small red notebook, he also wrote on A4 sheets. When he left for the trial, I read his texts," Gusev said. At the same time, he noted that the article "Or a couple of stations to blow up the railway here!" , on the fact of the publication of which the case was initiated, does not know anything. When asked by Sidorkina whether Gusev rummaged through Stomakhin's belongings, the witness answered positively. Gusev noted that he had a negative attitude towards Stomakhin because of his views. Silivonets told him about them; in addition, Gusev read the indictment of the political prisoner. "Did that affect the objectivity of your testimony?" - asked Sidorkina. "Probably," Gusev replied.
Prosecutor Andrey Danilov demanded that Gusev's testimony during the preliminary investigation be read out. In them, he described Stomakhin as a person with an inadequate psyche. Gusev also said that Stomakhin "constantly justified terrorism." "I saw the text of the article 'Or blow up a couple of railway stations here!'. Stomakhin wrote it for sure," Gusev's testimony during the investigation said. During the meeting, he confirmed them. At the same time, Gusev explained that "I used to remember the circumstances better."
The panel of judges, chaired by Alexei Grinev, rejected Sidorkina's request to cross-examine Gusev and Silivonets. <…>
The court refused to call as a witness the former lawyer of the accused Viktor Borodin, which Sidorkina insisted on, as well as the United Russia deputy Alexander Sidyakin, on whose denunciation the case was opened. The court attached to the case file documents on the state of health of Stomakhin.
The investigation obtained access to the correspondence of a Chuvash activist accused of extremism
“The senior investigator for especially important cases of the FSB in Chuvashia, Major of Justice A. Mukhin, received access to all the correspondence that Dmitry Semenov, an activist of the regional branch of the RPR-PARNAS, Dmitry Semenov, accused of extremism, had kept on VKontakte since 2009. about this Semenov wrote on his Twitter. He explained that the administration of the social network provided the FSB with access to the correspondence by a court decision. On Monday, Semyonov and his lawyer from Nizhny Novgorod, Yevgeny Gubin, got acquainted with the materials of the criminal case against the activist. The case contains three volumes. On Tuesday, it will go to the prosecutor's office to approve the indictment."
The trial began in the case of Oleksandr Kostenko, accused of causing harm to a Berkut fighter in Kyiv
“The prosecutor’s office of Crimea intends to demand a real term of imprisonment for the Maidan activist. He is accused of attempting to assassinate soldiers of the Crimean detachment of the Berkut special forces during the riots in Kyiv in 2014. This was announced by the Prosecutor of the Republic Natalia Poklonskaya after the first preliminary court hearing on the case. “Today, the preliminary hearing ended with the judge’s decision to appoint the case directly to the trial on the merits. The case is scheduled for consideration in the presence of the media on April 20,” Poklonskaya said. “If the guilt of the suspect is proven in court, then the state prosecution will deliberately ask for real freedom." The prosecutor also said that at the meeting, the term of arrest for the accused Alexander Kostenko was extended for another two months - for the duration of the case in court. Poklonskaya clarified that Kostenko was detained on the territory of Crimea, the suspect himself is a citizen of Russia. "Kostenko is accused of causing minor bodily harm to one Berkut employee. Later, during the inspection of Kostenko's place of residence, parts from firearms were found," the Crimean prosecutor said. “The infliction of bodily harm took place on the Maidan during the armed seizure of power.”
Now 50 fighters of the Crimean Berkut have been recognized as victims of the radical "Maidan activists," Poklonskaya said. According to her, in the near future, new suspects will appear in the dock next to Kostenko. Kostenko's lawyer, talking to reporters, said that the suspect does not admit his guilt.
The defendant in the February 26 Case was released on bail
“ Crimean Eskender Kantemirov, who was arrested for two months in the case of mass riots in front of the building of the Crimean Parliament on February 26, was released.
Recall that the Crimean law enforcement officers detained Eskender Kantemirov on February 7, 2015. Before that, a search was conducted in his house. The next day, on February 8, Kantemirov was arrested by a court decision . He was charged with committing a crime under Part 2 of Art. 212 of the Criminal Code (participation in riots). According to investigators, he allegedly “inflicted bodily injuries on a number of citizens during the riots on February 26, 2014 in Simferopol.” According to the activist's relatives, today, April 6, Eskender Kantemirov was released, since the term of his arrest had expired. The preventive measure in the form of detention was not extended, because, according to the lawyer, Kantemirov was bailed out by adviser to the plenipotentiary representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Crimean Federal District, chairman of the Saki regional Mejlis Eskender Bilyalov.
A resident of Sevastopol was announced that a case was initiated against her for writing in social networks
Elena Denisova , a resident of Sevastopol , told Open Russia that a criminal case had been opened against her for posting on Facebook in support of Ukraine
- Tell us what happened on Friday, April 3, when the FSB officers came to your house with a search.
— It was in the morning. They rang the doorbell, I opened it and an employee stands and says: “There was a theft here.” I say: “Are they suspecting me of stealing?” He says: “Yes, no, we are interviewing everyone.”
I say: "Well, come in." And my mother came up and said: "Well, come in." He went in, and after him, everyone else entered the apartment. And immediately they showed me a court order (apparently, about a search. - Open Russia). I immediately swam, and I remember what happened next very vaguely. I told mother and child: "Don't leave them alone, otherwise they will throw something." They laughed: “Yes, what are you, what will we give you?” They asked if there were weapons, drugs, forbidden literature. We replied that we had nothing of the sort. They took the computer. One of them asked: “Did you write posts with extremist content?” I asked him: “But what about freedom of speech”? In general, they were polite, but one of them suddenly lost his temper and said that I had written some nonsense about the children of Donbass. I didn't really understand what he meant because I was in a state of shock.
What did the officer say?
- He said: “Write that you were wrong, you won’t do it again, and you will be given a symbolic punishment, a suspended sentence. And you will be able to leave for your Ukraine.
So you signed some kind of paper?
- I was told that I allegedly wrote in my FB: “Free Donbass, liberate Crimea.” I allegedly wrote this in August 2014. Of course, I don't remember ever writing anything like that. Yesterday I looked at my feed for 2014, and I didn’t find such specific words there. Most likely, it was my comment or some of my personal correspondence, of course, I don’t remember this anymore. But my entire tape, of course, is pro-Ukrainian.
— Are you a citizen of Ukraine or Russia?
— I renounced Russian citizenship. I am a citizen of Ukraine. And I was just about to leave for Ukraine, I had tickets in my hands, and the detective told me: “They won’t let you out now, they will detain you at the border.”
? Why won't they let you out What, a criminal case has been opened against you?
Yes, they told me: “You have committed a criminal offense. If it was an administrative crime, then they would not find fault with you, they would let you out of Crimea. But this alleged call is a criminal offense.” I say: "I'm not a citizen of Russia." And the detective told me: “So what? For example, in America you killed a man, but you cannot leave America on the basis that you are not an American citizen. Here, too, your act is a criminal offense, which is why you will not be released to Ukraine.”
— Are you scared?
“You see, of course, I panicked and said: “Look at me, what harm can I do? What kind of extremist am I? I don't even work anywhere. I'm seating at home. I have virtual friends. I don't have any friends."
- And what did the detective say to you?
- He said that he understood everything, but he repeated, like a wound, the same thing.
- The search was on Friday morning, and since then no one has come to you?
No, no one came. When they arrived, I managed to write on my Facebook: “I have a search.” They saw it and recorded it in the protocol. My post on FB gave a lot of publicity, I myself was surprised by this, because I am not a public person.
- What is your profession?
- I have a higher education. Humanitarian. I almost never worked, I was engaged in raising children. My husband supported me, but he died last November. And they don’t hire me because I don’t have Russian citizenship. We survive thanks to my mother's pension and the allowances that they give to children. My son will be 16, and my daughter will be 14. I wanted to go to Ukraine and look for a job.
- Did they explain to you why they won't let you out of Crimea? On what basis? Do you have a written undertaking?
“They said they would give it to me when the investigator called me in for questioning. This security officer, who advised me to write something like a confession, told me: "If you do not have your own lawyer, then they will give you a lawyer."
- What confession did you write?
- He told me: “Write, they say, I did not agree with the annexation of Crimea, I was very worried about this and, in a state of emotional stress, I could write in my FB under the nickname Galya Denisova (Galya is the name of Denisova’s daughter. - Open Russia ) something that isn't legal, but I didn't know about it."
— Did you write it?
Yes, on plain paper.
Did you write this in the presence of a lawyer?
- No.
“ You were just intimidated.
“Yes, I was terribly scared. My son will turn 16 in three weeks, which is why I wanted to leave before he turns 16, so that we can pass through both checkpoints without any obstacles, so that there are no legal conflicts, because my son does not yet have a passport. I was afraid that when he turns 16 and does not have a Ukrainian passport, he will not be released. And I panicked so much. And this detective (FSB. - Open Russia) says: "Don't worry, we will do it as quickly as possible, of course, you will not make it before that time, but then you will leave." And I tell them: Let me out, why do you need me? And he: “I understand everything, I understand ...”
— Do you have a search report?
— I have a protocol of inspection of the premises.
? Did you sign a non-disclosure agreement
- It seems not. I signed the search protocol. I don't remember being asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The detective said that the investigator would call me.”
Later it became known that Denisova left for the territory of Ukraine
extrajudicial prosecution
Aleksei Sutuga, who was sent to a colony, has already received two penalties, for which he was sent to a ShIZO
“Anti-fascist Aleksey “Socrates” Sutuga, convicted of hooliganism and beatings and transferred to the Angarsk IK-14 two weeks ago, has already received two disciplinary sanctions. Agora's lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina spoke with Sutuga and told Mediazona how and why her client ended up in a punishment cell
I came to Irkutsk and talked to Aleksey Sutuga, who is already on his second disciplinary sanction. He said that at first they wanted to leave him in the Irkutsk pre-trial detention center, where he was immediately taken into development. In the Irkutsk detention center there is a “red building”, where the authorities are completely controlled by the administration. There are four people in the cells. They put Aleksey in such a cell, put three more prisoners next to him. Well, they thought that he was a thief in law who needed to be broken. They didn’t beat him, but psychologically they put pressure on him, bored him. Like, change your beliefs. He tried to ask them what beliefs they meant. They say we don't know, but we have to. Change and that's it!
In the pre-trial detention center, the FSB officers offered Sutuga to cooperate. They promised that they would leave me in a pre-trial detention center, they would, they said, in chocolate, that he would be released on parole. Didn't agree. Then they took away the books and all the mail correspondence. Sutuga went on a hunger strike and demanded that he be sent to a colony. March 20 was a personal stage for Sutuga to the colony - from Irkutsk to Angarsk he was accompanied by three convoys. Before that, he was searched: they stripped him naked, examined him, enlightened his bag, there was nothing forbidden. Came out of jail clean.
When Sutuga was taken to IK-14, he was supposed to be quarantined for five days. Instead, he was taken to a separate room, where 10 officers of the Federal Penitentiary Service forced him to undress again. During the inspection of things, they found a sharpening, they took it out of the cap. The sharpening was clearly thrown, which Alexei reported about. But they still filed a report against him and on March 21 he was sent to the ShIZO for seven days because of the discovery of a prohibited item.
On March 27, the head of the premises came to Sutuga and said that another disciplinary sanction was imposed on the anti-fascist for 15 days. There are several reasons at once - the appearance was not respected - Sutuga did not have a badge, which he was not given, his face was not shaved, despite the fact that razors are issued on demand. In addition, he was accused of not cleaning in the ShIZO cell. The guards also recorded on video that he fell asleep twice at the wrong time. They let you sleep at night, then they give you a mattress. During the rest of the day, you have no right to sleep. Standing, doing anything, but not sleeping. And the light is on all the time. They also play loud creepy music.
Now Lesha’s prospects are as follows: on April 10, after 15 days in a ShIZO, Sutuga will be transferred either to a cell-type facility (PKT) or to strict conditions of detention (SUS). People in ShIZO have their rights significantly curtailed. Aleksey does not receive a transfer, he is not given visits, and if, for example, he is transferred to the PKT, there will be fewer visits than those who are in the free part of the zone. The transmission volume is less. And most importantly, Sutuga is completely isolated and is serving his sentence in solitude. They even take him for walks separately from the rest of the prisoners.
In the second case , Sutugi said that the case was born within the walls of the Center "E". The current story with ShIZO confirms this. Already sending him to serve his sentence, they continue to accompany him. When he was brought to the Irkutsk pre-trial detention center, law enforcement officials made it clear that special treatment was needed for Sutuga. The administrations of the isolation ward and the colony do not know what to do with him. When a thief in law comes, they know, but not here. Because of his convictions, because of his unwillingness to cooperate with the administration of correctional institutions, they try to isolate Sutuga from the rest of the prisoners. He does push-ups and yoga, they give him three hours a day to read books, but psychologically it is very difficult for Alexei, because he is constantly in a confined space.
Journalist beaten up in Dagestan
"Journalist Vyacheslav Starodubets was beaten today in Derbent by people in masks, Magomed Khanmagomedov, head of the Anti-Corruption Council Ogni organization, told the Caucasian Knot. According to Magomed Khanmagomedov, journalist Vyacheslav Starodubets was beaten in Derbent around 17.00. "Several people in masks this afternoon forcibly put in a car, and then they took Vyacheslav outside the city and beat him. According to him, the mask fell off one of the attackers, but he did not recognize this person. Vyacheslav Starodubets connects the attack with his professional activities," Magomed Khanmagomedov, head of the Dagestan public organization Anti-Corruption Council Ogni, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. Vyacheslav Starodubets is one of the authors of the information projects "Pearl of the South" and "My Derbent," Khanmagomedov added. According to him, the beaten journalist is planned to be taken to the hospital.”
In Crimea, searches are being conducted in settlements with a Crimean Tatar population
"Crimea. Realities", April 2 :
“Along with checking cars of Crimean Tatars in the village of Zhuravki, Kirovsky District, on April 2, police officers in the village check the conditions for storing firearms in the homes of residents, Zair Smedlyaev, an activist of the Crimean Tatar movement, the head of the Kurultai Central Election Commission, said. He wrote about it on Facebook.
“In the village, they check the conditions of storage of firearms for those who have them. The most interesting thing is that at the same time they are looking for a stolen motorcycle in houses, in closets, chests of drawers and computers with mobile phones, which are seized without authorization and any documents. In general, another action to intimidate the Crimean Tatars,” he wrote.
According to Smedlyaev, in Crimea they are trying to paralyze Internet users in this way.
“In our village the Internet did not work for two days, today there was no electricity for half a day. There is a cleansing of the information space, they closed the Asia-Pacific Region, and now they are trying to paralyze Internet users as well. I won’t be surprised that soon there will be no telephone connection,” the activist said.
Earlier, he told Krym.Realii that checkpoints were set up in the village of Zhuravki on the morning of April 2 and the police were checking cars with Crimean Tatar symbols.”