Human Rights Center “Memorial” sent five complaints from detainees regarding the March 26 protests to the ECHR

On December 8, the Memorial Human Rights Center sent to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) five complaints from participants in the March 26 protest who suffered from the actions of police officers.

Alexey Bulyavsky, Valery Nazarkin, Sergey Redinger, Nikita Rolin and Alexey Sinitsin sent their complaints. All of them were detained during an action against corruption on March 26 in Moscow.

The applicants were accused of disobeying the lawful demands of police officers (Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code) or violating the rules for participating in a rally (Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code). However, they did not resist and did not commit any violent actions. Each of the applicants spent from one and a half to four hours in a police car waiting to be taken to the police station.

The court hearings took place in the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow. The detainees tried to get the police officers who directly detained them to be subpoenaed to testify, but the court rejected these requests.

The applicants were found guilty and fined from one to ten thousand rubles. The complaints to the Moscow City Court were rejected.

In the application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the applicants complain of violations of Articles of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms No. 5 (liberty and security of person), 6 (fair trial), 10 (freedom of expression) and 11 (liberty peaceful assemblies).

On March 26, large-scale protests took place in Russia; on this day, according to various sources, from 36 to 88 thousand people in 97 cities took to the streets. In Moscow, 1,043 people were detained - more than during the rally on Bolotnaya Square on May 6, 2012. After the dispersal of the protests on March 26, nine people in three cities became involved in criminal cases. They were charged under Article 318 of the Criminal Code - use of violence against a government official.

On December 7, the court sentenced Dmitry Krepkin to one and a half years in a general regime colony. Yuri Kuliy , Alexander Shpakov , Stanislav Zimovets , Andrei Kosykh and Alexey Politikov - detained at the March 26 rally in Moscow and also accused of violence against government officials - received actual prison sentences ranging from 8 months to 3 years and eight months. Kuliy has already been released .

Read more about those accused in the wake of the March 26 protests in the special OVD-Info guide.