Repressions against participants in the anti -corruption action on March 26, 2017

At the moment, five people have already been arrested in Moscow and placed in a pre -trial detention center as part of the investigation of several criminal cases instituted in the footsteps of the events of March 26 - they are facing a serious prison term, up to a lifetime. At least four Russian cities already have accused of individual incidents related to anti -corruption shares and current protests.

Unfortunately, this does not end there. The analysis of the information that the ATS-Info collects on a daily mode allows you to unequivocally assert: the law enforcement agencies are purposefully engaged in pressure on detainees and arrested in order to prepare the testimony necessary to create a criminal case to which any participant in the shares can be involved. The investigation that has already begun by the Investigative Committee may affect hundreds and thousands of people, dozens of people can be arrested. A criminal case unfolding before our eyes can turn into the largest political process in the latest history of Russia.

Detention and administrative persecution

In dozens of cities of Russia, the shares ended with detentions - more than 1,500 people ended up in the police . Only at least 1043 people were detained in Moscow on Tverskaya Street and near it, while the detentions took place in a rude form , using special equipment and physical violence that does not correspond to the task of ensuring security at a peaceful protest event. In addition, the police detained and delivered about 70 minors to the police department.

During the detentions and delivery to the departments, many participants in Moscow were beaten by the police: about this OTD-Info is known from the words of the detainees themselves who called the hotline from the frames of the video , as well as from the words of eyewitnesses , independent observers and journalists present at the promotion.

They are forced to admit that the statement of the Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova that “ there was not a single case of bodily harm ”, is not true. The lack of official complaints from the detainees cannot and should not serve for human rights institutions, which include the apparatus of the Commissioner, evidence of the lack of facts of violations by police officers.

Over the years, the ATS-info has recorded the practice of initiating or the threat of initiation on beaten criminal cases under Article 318 of the Criminal Code in the event that beaten activists are trying to complain about violence or initiate a criminal case against police officers. It is important to note that the employees of the Investigative Committee, who interrogated the detainees on the night of March 26-27 in the police departments, in particular, were interested in precisely the presence of injuries and beatings from the police. Subsequently, precisely under Art. 318 of the Criminal Code, a preventive measure for the detainees of the defendants in the criminal case was elected, one of them - Alexander Shpakov - already said that he was beaten by the police during the detention and hospitalized from the police department.

Most of the detainees were accused of various administrative offenses. In total, according to the ATS-INFO , on April 18, 586 trials have already passed in the Tver District Court, part of the cases have been postponed. According to official figures of the Moscow City Court , in total, the Tver court during this time received 732 administrative cases of detainees on March 26 on Tverskaya Street.

Under article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses in Moscow, 138 people were attracted to administrative responsibility, according to the Moscow City Court. According to the ATS-INFO , for a period of 2 to 25 days for this and a number of other articles, 64 people were sentenced to arrest, all the arrests reached 646 days in total, the rest of the detainees under this article spent in the police departments until 48 hours after which were released.

According to the main “rally” article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses in the Tver court, proceedings have already been held in 469 cases, in all cases known to us, the judges found the detainees guilty and awarded them fines from ten to twenty thousand rubles (the total amount of fines already exceeded 5 million rubles). The courts in administrative cases will be held in the Tver District Court of Moscow and in the Moscow City Court at least all May and June. A detailed familiarization with the course of litigation, materials of administrative cases and court decisions according to 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses allows us to argue that all court decisions known to us are pronounced non -legal nature.

Factory of a criminal case

In parallel, already from the evening of March 26, the process of preparing criminal cases is actively underway. At the moment, the law enforcement agencies have already announced the initiation of several criminal cases on a number of articles, it is already known about the arrest of five people in Moscow, the number of suspects is growing.

OVD-Info has information that at least 145 investigators are working on these cases. Among them there are those who participated in the investigation of the “swamp business”, in particular, who led the Major General of Justice Rustam Gabdulin, who heads the investigation, who leads the investigation in this matter.

In the evening of March 26, it became known about the institution of the case under Art. 317 of the Criminal Code (an encroachment on the life of a law enforcement officer). Later it turned out that the victim was an employee of the 2nd operational regiment of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow Evgeny Gavrilov, who appeared as a victim in a “swamp business”-according to the investigation, Ivan Nepomnychy “applied violence” (is currently serving a term in the colony). According to unconfirmed reports , on March 26, Gavrilov received a traumatic brain injury.

On the same evening, at least 24 of the 50 famous police officers of the police, by which the detainees were transported, investigators from the Investigative Committee arrived for interrogations. At the same time, according to the detainees themselves, in different departments, investigators informed them of different information about what a conversation was being conducted in the framework of a criminal case: somewhere they talked about the case of riots, somewhere about “extremism”. By virtue of serious procedural violations committed (for example, after the arrival of the SK investigators to the detainees, they ceased to be allowed by lawyers), as well as the facts known to the OVD-Info , the detainees at the detainees during “interrogations”, we can already safely talk about the collection of materials, but about the full falsification of the criminal case.

After that, many detainees began to receive summons for interrogation, and in connection with the participation of schoolchildren in the action to the Investigative Committee, they called directors and other school employees in which the detainees study.

In addition, on March 26, information appeared about the establishment of a case of initiating hatred or enmity ( Article 282 of the Criminal Code ): according to the press secretary of Alexei Navalny Kira Yarmysh, during a search in the office of the Corruption Fund, this article was charged with the head of the election headquarters Leonid Volkov. According to RBC, the detainees in the office of the FBK were interrogated under this article, but this story has not yet received further development.

On March 27, the Investigative Committee announced the criminal case already under three articles: in addition to the 317th, Art. 213 (hooliganism, up to five years in prison) and Art. 318 (Application of violence, to a representative of power, up to ten years in prison) of the Criminal Code. In the framework of this case, according to the SK, a check “On the proposals of remuneration is carried out in case of detention for participating in an unauthorized mass action on March 26 in Moscow not only to teenagers, but also to other participants in the event”. The SK message appeared shortly after the statements of Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov about the facts of the “bribery” of adolescents participating in the action.

In the framework of the same case, Alexei Navalny had in a special projector No. 2, where he was sent to serve his arrest, things were seized , including laces.

A few days later it became known that the participants of the Moscow campaign, whom the court placed under administrative arrest, had interrogation. Representatives of unknown power structures, without introducing themselves or showing documents, interrogated the detainees in special receptionists and on Petrovka, 38 . At the same time, the arrested was threatened , inhuman circulation and various techniques of psychological pressure was applied to them. Unknown operatives clearly made it clear to the interrogated that they were preparing a new “swamp business”.

These interrogations can also form the basis of a falsified criminal case.

Arrests in Moscow

The case of violence on March 26

On April 13, the UK published a press release in which he announced the detention and charges of four defendants in a criminal case, instituted on the fact of unlawful actions, participants who were not absent with the authorities of the mass event on March 26, 2017 on Pushkin Square and the nearby territory under Art. 213, 317 and 318 Criminal Code.

All detainees - Yuri Kuli, Alexander Shpakov, Stanislav Zimovets, Andrei Kosykh - by court decision were taken into custody and placed in a pre -trial detention center for two months . The courts, as they stopped, took place on March 28, April 1, 6 and 13. The final accusation has not yet been charged.

It is important to emphasize that the statement of the Investigative Committee was a surprise to the human rights community: none of the arrested or their relatives (with the exception of the Yuri Kulia family) turned to professional legal assistance, there was no information about the arrests and the searches preceding them in public space. Accordingly, with all the arrested, except Kulia, lawyers worked and continue to work “for their intended purpose” - that is, lawyers who provide protection without an agreement with the client, on the initiative of the investigator, investigator, or the court, which, coupled with the investigative authorities, could cause guilty guilty to two accused. Often, it is the lawyers who, according to the appointment, persuade their customers to admit guilt or agree to the so -called “special procedure” of the consideration of the case.

OVD-Info managed to establish the whereabouts of all the accused:

Andrei Kosykh (born in 1986) was contained in the temporary maintenance of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow (Petrovka, 38). At the moment, his whereabouts are unknown, but he was supposed to be transferred to a pre -trial detention center no later than April 23, ten days after the placement in the IVS .

Yuri Kuliy (born in 1989) and Alexander Shpakov (b. 1977) are in the investigative insulator No. 5 (Vodnik pre -trial detention center).

Stanislav Zimovtsa (born in 1985) was placed in the investigative insulator No. 2 (Butyrka pre -trial detention center). According to the member of the public observation commission (PMC) of Moscow Dmitry Piskunov, the winter -man is in the block for the "lifelongs", that is, for those who are accused of crimes entailing punishment in the form of life imprisonment. According to Piskunov, there is another person in the cell accused of another criminal case. These cameras are equipped with video surveillance. Why Zimovets was placed there, it is not known to us, but it is possible that he is also charged with the commission of a crime under Article 317 of the Criminal Code, which entails a punishment of imprisonment from 12 years to a lifelong opinion and even temporarily prohibited death penalty in Russia.

Yuri Kulia is defended by lawyer Alexei Lipzer. An independent lawyer who agreed to work with the Zimovts, to this day, could not join in business, as he has encountered bureaucratic obstacles from the investigative committee.

The case of Yuri Kulia

Yuri Kuli is an actor, he is 27 years old. He is from Volgograd, but was detained at home in Moscow. On April 4, they came to him with a search, after which they conducted an interrogation, confrontation, and already on April 6 in the Basmanny court he was elected a preventive measure in the form of a two -month arrest.

Kulius informed his lawyer that he was just trying to separate the elderly man and riot police. The basis for the detention was a video made on stocks. However, according to the lawyer, it is difficult to discern the nuances, and video recording cannot serve as proof of any use of violence. In the case, there is also the testimony of a police officer who indicates Kulia as a person, “who grabbed his hand and thereby caused him pain” (while the policeman has no bodily harm).

In an interview, Lipzer said that he did not consider the incident an incident as a reason for a judicial investigation. During the interrogation on the eve of the hearing, Yuri Kuli pleaded guilty. Lipzer emphasized that this happened when the defender appointed by the state was engaged in the Kulia case, and he personally considers this decision to be incorrect.

“I am now charged with a sharp pain in the elbow of a policeman, torn a pocket of an employee and an attempt to take a baton, but even in the video that is published, it is noticeable that I just spread my hands. This is not an attack at all, ” said Kuli member of the PMC Kohershyn Sagieva.

The case of Alexander Shpakov

Alexander Shpakov is a carpenter from the city of Lyubertsy near Moscow, he is 39 years old. On March 26, Shpakov walked along Tverskaya with the flag of Russia, not far from him people began to scream about the detention of Alexei Navalny. “After that, everyone rushed to the nearest Avtosak, and I ended up in this crowd, and next to the bus I hit me on the head with a club. After, already in the bus itself, where I was dragged, there are blows again, now on the kidneys, ” said Shpakov to the PMC members .

After the detention of Shpakov, an ambulance took away, the doctors recorded abrasions and bruises in the hospital, and also took tomography and a picture of the ribs, after which he went home. Shpakov: “At night at about 3 in the morning I woke up from the doorbells, I look in the eye - they try to open the lock. Well, then they took me away, seized all the documents, phones, computer, clothes in which I was on the procession, the same flag. ”

According to investigators, Shpakov inflicted two blows to Lieutenant Colonel Valery Gonikov. The accused himself noted that one of the investigators proposed to plead guilty. Shpakov refused to plead guilty. By the way, Gonikov, as well as the Gavrilov mentioned above, was previously victims of the “swamp business” .

On April 24, the Moscow City Court upheld the decision on the maintenance of Shpakov in the pre -trial detention center, although the representative of the prosecutor’s office proposed placing him under house arrest. Lawyer Sergei Badamshin, who entered into the case of Shpakov, by agreement, did not rule out in a conversation with the ATS-Info , that the case would soon be referred to the court: according to him, Shpakov himself was already repeatedly interrogated, there were interrogations of witnesses-police officers, confrontation and examination were carried out.

The case of Dmitry Bogatov

On April 1, the UK announced the initiation of another case in connection with the emergence of messages in unknown in social networks calling to go to Red Square: under Part 3 of Art. 212 of the Criminal Code (calls for riots). On April 6, the UK detained the first “suspect” in this case, on April 7 his name became known: this is a 25-year-old programmer and mathematician Dmitry Bogatov. The court did not satisfy the request of the prosecutor's office for the arrest of Bogatov. However, he was not released - the next day he was added more serious accusations (the accusation under Part 3 of Article 212 was re -qualified): in justification of terrorism (Article 202.2 of the Criminal Code) and preparation for the organization of riots (part 1 of article 30 of article 212 of the Criminal Code), after which they placed the subsidence for two months .

Bogatov teaches mathematics at the Moscow Financial and Legal University. He graduated from the Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow State University, worked as a programmer at Samsung and Skontel. According to investigators, Bogatov allegedly tried to provoke mass riots on April 2 in Moscow, spreading information on the Internet under the name Ayrat Bashirov-the only evidence of the investigation is the IP address of Bogatov. The mathematician denies his guilt, and the person with the nickname “Ayrat Bashirov”, whose posts still appear on the Internet, have already stated that Bogatov has nothing to do with Bogatov (at the same time, three users with such a nickname have appeared on the forum where “extremist” materials appeared). Bogatov himself calls himself an “free software adherent,” and, apparently, he was an administrator of one of the Tor network nodes , and any user of this network could write with his IP address .

According to this scenario, troubles are possible in hundreds and thousands of people who broadcast on the Internet announcements of protest events on April 2.

In the same case, the first interrogations of “witnesses” have already passed. They interrogated or tried to interrogate the detainees on various promotions on April 2 in Moscow. Questions were asked about the action on March 26. At least three detainees on the picket on April 2 were called to the Investigative Committee, one of them spoke in detail about the content of issues , they concerned, in particular, political views, accounts in social networks, hobbies.

The case of Vyacheslav Maltsev

On April 13, searches were held by the nationalist Vyacheslav Maltsev and his supporters. Maltsev was detained in Saratov and transported to Moscow. The searches also took place in Saratov with Sergey Okunev, the co -host of Maltsev’s “Arthotovka” resource, in the Moscow Region in the so -called People’s House “Artillery”, in Moscow by nationalists Yuri Gorsky and Ivan Beletsky, as well as an activist named Alexei in Ussuriysk. Gorsky and Beletsky were also detained (Beletsky, possibly beaten). There were reports that Maltsev’s detention is connected with the criminal case about the application of violence to the police officer in the wake of March 26. Beletsky was taken to the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate of Moscow , where, as he later told the OVD-Info , he was interrogated in a criminal case in connection with March 26. At the same time, he was taken from a non -disclosure of details related to the search, detention and interrogation. Gorsky was called the agenda to the Investigative Committee, however, when he came there with a lawyer, they told him that they would call him at another time . He was also taken from a non -disclosure of the details of the search, and also drew up a protocol on non -compliance with the legal requirements of the investigator. On Maltsev and his assistant Konstantin Zelenin drew up a protocol on disobedience to the legal actions of police officers in connection with the action on March 26. The next day, both were arrested for 15 days.

Criminal cases in other cities

Information is received on the initiation of criminal cases in other Russian cities. In Volgograd, a student Maxim Beldinov is undergoing a criminal case on the use of violence in relation to a representative of the authorities (Article 318 of the Criminal Code), a subscription about the not to leave him. According to Novaya Gazeta , Beldinov was detained when trying to help the schoolboy, whom the police carried by the legs and hands. The student was also detained, but released from the police department without a protocol. The lawyer of Maxim Beldinov contacted the Mediazona and said that the incident between his client and the police officer occurred after the rally on March 26, "when the rally has already grown into the procession, and the procession grew up in walking through the streets."

Beldinov, protecting the detained teenager, ran up and hit the policeman on his side. Beldinov pleaded guilty and repented, now the investigation in the case is already over, Beldinov’s defense hopes for punishment not related to deprivation of liberty.

In Tomsk, a criminal case was instituted about a deliberately false message about the terrorist attack (Article 207 of the Criminal Code) in the wake of the opening of the headquarters of Navalny on March 21-that day the police evacuated all activists to the street due to the bomb allegedly laid in the building. In this case, the EE center began to call the participants in the action on March 26 . As the New Gazeta notes from the words of activists, most of the issues concern their attitude to Navalny.

Another criminal case, indirectly related to March 26, was instituted in Irkutsk. On April 8, several people were detained , all of them participated in the rally on March 26 and planned to hold a meeting dedicated to the events on March 9 on March 26. Later it turned out that one of the detainees, Dmitry Litvin, instructed the case of insulting the feelings of believers (Article 148 of the Criminal Code) for certain publications in social networks, everyone else passes as witnesses. Nevertheless, in the center to counteract terrorism they asked questions about protests and calls for terrorism. Litvin is under subscription about the wonness of the accused, the lawyer “according to its intended purpose” works with him. One of the activists detained for interrogation as a witness in the case, Igor Martynenko, was arrested for ten days under an administrative article on disobedience to the legal requirements of police officers. The court of appeal sent his case for a new consideration , after which a decision was re -made on his arrest , for six days. On April 24, this decision was canceled .

In Petrozavodsk, after a rally on March 26, law enforcement officers tried to bring to administrative responsibility the organizer of the action Vitaly Flebanov, and unknown people tried to kidnap him. During the action, the police detained six participants in the anti -corruption action. Almost all of them were released without drawing up protocols with the exception of the arbitration manager Evgeny Vlainkov. A protocol was drawn up on it under Part 1 of Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (disobedience to the legal order of a police officer). On March 27, the Petrozavodsk City Court twice returned his police case, since the protocol was drawn up by unauthorized persons. According to the publication of Blueberries, law enforcement agencies are trying to start a criminal case on Evgeny Vlainkov under part 1 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code (the application of violence against a representative of the authorities). According to Vlainkov, to the factory of the case, the police major wrote a report that he was struck. Vlainkov believes that the police major in his report relies on the video of March 26, where he screamed after the detainee, whom he led to the car carrier, after which he himself was harshly detained. At the moment, Vladyenkov has not yet received any summons.

Mass intimidation and pressure

The long -term consequences of the shares on March 26 are not limited to preparing criminal cases.

In all regions of Russia, where stocks were held, a massive wave of pressure on the participants began. Activists are detained, called for interrogations, expelled or threatened to expel from the university, and they are talking with their parents.

The flow of such messages on the hotline of the OVD-info does not stop, and we will give only some cases that illustrate what is happening now throughout the country.

In Cheboksary, the participant was detained directly at the rehearsal of the orchestra , in which he plays the violin, and in Arkhangelsk the police took the elderly woman from the hospital and delivered to court. In Primorye, school principals are required to prohibit students from participating in opposition rallies. In Volgograd, they call schoolchildren in SK, and the police go to universities with photographs of the participants and delays them directly at lectures.

In Chita, the FSB officers called the mother of the organizer of the action and asked her to "put up their son." In Saratov, students are also detained right at the institute ; In this city, where there were no detentions for the shares at all, they still promise to bring a hundred participants to justice , and there they called the activist to the police, calling him from his mother’s phone . In Krasnoyarsk, they call the police with questions about corruption and Navalny (including those who were not at all in the shares ). In Orsk, the threat employees came home to the activist. The teacher of the Cheboksar, the Blinov Blinov, was fined a thousand rubles for publishing a photograph of the Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov in a T -shirt with the inscription “Orthodoxy or death!”. In the same city, the participants are fired and expelled from the university , and also delayed witnesses right in the courts and then fined . In Nizhny Novgorod, the police drawn up the protocols of the “ non -fulfillment of the duties of the education of minors ” to the parents of young activists.

In addition, in several regions, the authorities tightened restrictions related to freedom of assembly. In Tomsk, the local Hyde Park was moved from the center to the industrial zone. In Samara, from among the “Hyde Parks” they excluded the one where the action was held on March 26. In Tatarstan, the rules for filing a notification of the event were complicated .

Afterword

We described only certain cases of pressure, and, perhaps, we know not about all already initiated criminal cases and not even about all arrests. But the trend, unfortunately, is already visible: in response to the action on March 26, power began preparations for a new political criminal process and launched a mechanism for intimidation and pressure on activists throughout the country.

The OVD-Info has good reason to believe that the repressions will continue and soon we can hear about new arrests in criminal cases related to March 26.

The Investigative Committee has already stated that the investigation of events on March 26 in Moscow continues, as well as investigative actions with the "other defendants" of the criminal case. Constantly incoming information about calls for interrogations in the UK, the process of primary “collecting” evidence (interrogations without lawyers in police and special receptionists, psychological pressure and threats), the absence of independent lawyers from the first arrested and recognition of their guilt - all this unequivocally indicates plans to further expand the number of suspects and arrested.

We urge both Russian civil society and international human rights institutions to pay close attention to the situation.

We are calling for an international investigation of events on March 26 and repressions that followed them.

We urge to seek legal responsibility for all violations of human rights by the executive and judicial power, already, in our opinion, committed in relation to absolutely specific people - participants in the action on March 26.

The newly promoting flywheel of political repressions can still be stopped. And exactly one can help many specific people who can soon be crushed by a cynical, inhuman and faceless repressive system.

PS : estimates

The press secretary of Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov called the shares that had passed on March 26, accused their organizers of provocation and the bribery of the participants, and, conversely, positively appreciated the police, which acted "absolutely correctly, highly professional and legal." The deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Igor Zubov, also called the actions of the participants in the action by provocation , and the police evaluated the behavior of the police positively, promising to act tougher in the future. Mikhail Fedotov, Chairman of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (SPC), said that “the police only fulfill the requirement of the law,” refused to support the initiative of the Council for the Creation of the Working Group to Collect Information, Analysis and Preparation of the Public Report on the events of March 26, and promised on behalf of the HRC to promote “in resolving the housing issue” of the police officer Evgeny Gavrilov , to to Which, according to the investigation, was applied to violence. The head of the regional security and anti -corruption department, Vladimir Chernikov, positively appreciated the actions of the police and said that the detainees "obviously violated the law, having come to this event." The Commissioner for Human Rights, Tatyana Moskalkova, said that, according to the results of her verification, “35 cases of unreasonable administrative penalties” were revealed, noted that “there was not a single case of bodily harm [by police officers],” and also positively appreciated the actions of the police: “The fact that on March 26 there were no bodily injuries, which means that the ethics of professional actions are growing.”

The UNspecialist for the freedom of assembly by Main Kiai, the special-folder for freedom of self-expression David Kay, the special-folder for the protection of human rights defenders Michel Forst and the chairman of the UNworking group for the arbitrary detention of SETONGI Roland Azhovi made a joint statement , which called the Russian authorities to “immediately free all the demonstrators that are still in the grades , under the grades. As well as cancel their sentences, ”and in addition,“ fulfill your direct obligation in accordance with international human rights to protect and promote the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of opinion and their free expression and not to intervene in the exercise of these rights ”. The Memorial human rights center called for “immediately stop the persecution of participants in peaceful meetings and free those who were subjected to administrative arrest”, demanded that “officials guilty of violation of the rights and freedoms of the protesting participants on March 26” and called the “new wave of political repressions”: “today it is necessary to do everything to stop this wave and avoid this wave and avoid this wave and avoid this wave and avoid this wave and avoid this wave and avoid this wave and avoid this wave and avoid this wave and avoid this wave catastrophic consequences for the present and future of our country. ” The international human rights organization Amnesty International said that “the authorities cynically violated the right of citizens to freedom of peaceful assembly” and “all detainees on Sunday, March 26, in Moscow and other cities of Russia, peaceful demonstrators should be immediately and unconditionally liberated”.