Architect accused of ripping off a policeman's shoulder strap remains in custody

Petersburg architect Sergei Akhmetov, who was accused of ripping off the epaulette of a policeman at a gathering in support of Alexei Navalny and Pyotr Ofitserov in July 2013 in Moscow, where he, according to his own words, was not present, was left in custody. This decision was made on June 28 by the Moscow City Court, writes on Twitter. Polina Nemirovskaya, an employee of the human rights department of the Open Russia organization,

According to Nemirovskaya, "there is no information about where the case is and what is happening to it." The investigator has previously stated that he intends to take the case to court, but the case has not been transferred. Meanwhile, on June 22 , it became known that the Main Investigation Department had withdrawn Akhmetov's case in order to check whether the accused really had an alibi.

At a meeting in the Moscow City Court, the defense asked to summon the investigator, who had declared his intention to take the case to court. This request was denied.

Akhmetov has been in custody since November 21, 2015. He claims that not only was he not at the gathering on Tverskaya Street on July 23, 2013, but he has not been to Moscow at all since 2011. Friends and acquaintances of Akhmetov confirm his alibi, his phone billing also indicates that he was not in Moscow on July 23, 2013. As one of the evidence for the prosecution, there are photographs of a certain person who does not look much like him. In addition, in the photographs, he has a camera hanging around his neck, while Akhmetov's friends assure that he never had a camera and that he does not know how to take pictures.