The ECHR communicated the complaint of roofer Podrezov, convicted in the case of painting a star in the colors of the Ukrainian flag

On January 9, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) communicated the complaint of roofer Vladimir Podrezov, convicted in the case of painting a star on the high-rise building of Kotelnicheskaya Embankment in Moscow in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. Damir Gainutdinov, a lawyer for the international human rights group Agora, told Mediazona about this.

The Strasbourg court asked the Russian authorities whether the preliminary detention and subsequent conviction of Podrezov was a violation of Article 10(1) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which guarantees freedom of expression. If so, was the interference justified under Article 10 § 2 of the Convention? The ECtHR also asked whether there were sufficient grounds and whether the pre-trial detention and conviction pursued a legitimate aim.

In August 2014, Ukrainian roofer Pavel Ushevets, also known as Grisha Mustang, painted a star on the spire of a high-rise building in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. At the same time, four base jumpers who jumped from a high-rise with parachutes were accused of vandalism and hooliganism for political reasons (part 2 of article 214 and part 2 of article 213 of the Criminal Code).

Ushevets publicly took responsibility for painting the star. After this, another roofer, Vladimir Podrezov, who, according to investigators, was on the roof of the high-rise together with Ushevets, became involved in the case.

In September 2015, the Tagansky District Court of Moscow acquitted four base jumpers and sentenced Podrezov to two years and three months in prison to be served in a general regime colony, finding him guilty of complicity in vandalism, that is, desecration of a building motivated by political hatred (Part 5 of Article 33 , part 2 of article 214 of the Criminal Code). Later, the Moscow City Court changed the sentence, assigning the roofer two years and ten months of restriction of freedom instead of the real term.