The Moscow City Court upheld the sentence of the defendant in the “March 26 Case”

The Moscow City Court upheld the verdict against Alexander Shpakov, a defendant in the March 26 Case. It is reported by Mediazona.

Shpakov's defense asked for a suspended sentence, the victim did not insist on a real term, but the court did not take this into account.

On May 24, Shpakov was sentenced to a year and a half in a colony-settlement. Shpakov was accused of allegedly delivering two blows to Valery Gonikov, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Operational Regiment, when he was detained at an uncoordinated rally against corruption in Moscow on March 26. Gonikov was also a victim in the Bolotnaya case.

During the investigation, the accused pleaded guilty and agreed to a special order. Unlike another defendant in the same case, Stanislav Zimovets , he did not refuse this decision, so the proceedings proceeded without consideration of evidence. At the same time, as noted by Grani, Shpakov tried to assure the court that he had no malicious intent, but Judge Stekliyev replied that Shpakov was accused of the intentional use of violence, so the accused was forced to admit the presence of intent.

The Human Rights Center "Memorial" recognized Alexander Shpakov as a political prisoner.

Shpakov's mother said that a lawyer by appointment (that is, appointed by the state), who participated in the case, extorted money from the Shpakov family in order to "resolve the situation."