Crimean activist Vladimir Balukh was released from pre-trial detention center under house arrest

In Crimea, Judge Elena Tedeeva of the Razdolnensky District Court released Ukrainian activist Vladimir Balukh from a pre-trial detention center under house arrest, Mediazona correspondent Anton Naumlyuk reports. The court made this decision after the Supreme Court of Crimea canceled the extension of the term of imprisonment.

The prosecutor petitioned to replace the detention with house arrest. “I consider it possible to replace Balukha’s detention with house arrest at his place of residence,” he asked the court.

The defense insisted that, according to Russian law, those accused of crimes of medium gravity cannot be kept in custody for more than six months. Lawyer Olga Dinze asked the court to change the preventive measure to a written undertaking not to leave the place, and in case of house arrest, to give Balukh the opportunity to visit a clinic in the village of Razdolnoye, “since there is no hospital in the village of Serebryanka.”

“The most I can agree with is a written undertaking not to leave the place, and then only to comply with formalities. In general, I didn’t see a reason to limit me in anything before, and I don’t see it now,” Vladimir Balukh himself said in court.

Vladimir Balukh is a pro-Kurain activist from the village of Serebryanka in Crimea. He has repeatedly hung a Ukrainian flag on his house and nailed to it a sign with the address “Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred Street, 18” in Ukrainian. Balukh's house was repeatedly searched, after one of them a criminal case was opened against him for illegal storage of ammunition and explosives (part 1 of article 222 and part 1 of 222.1 of the Criminal Code) - security forces claim that they found cartridges and TNT blocks in the attic.

In August, Balukh was sentenced in this case to three years and seven months in prison, but in early October the Supreme Court of Crimea overturned the sentence and sent the case for a new trial.

After the verdict was pronounced, the activist was sent to a temporary detention center. According to Balukh, the head of the temporary detention facility, Valery Tkachenko, beat and insulted him. The activist’s lawyer contacted the police, Tkachenko responded by filing a complaint against Balukh, and a case was opened against the activist under Article 318 of the Criminal Code (use of violence against a government official). This case is still under investigation.