The teacher suspected of attacking a police officer on May 5 has pleaded not guilty

Natalia Podolyak, a teacher at the Department of Physical Education at the Siberian Federal University, suspected of using violence against a police officer on May 5, pleaded not guilty during interrogation at the Investigative Committee. Vladimir Vasin, a lawyer for the Agora International Human Rights Group, told OVD-Info about this.

According to investigators, during the action “He is not our king” on May 5 in Krasnoyarsk, Podolyak used violence against a police officer that was not dangerous to his life and health (part 1 of article 318 of the Criminal Code).

The employee of the university does not admit guilt, but she does not deny the fact of touching the policeman. Podolyak says that she touched the trouser leg of a government official so that he would stop hurting the person he was detaining.

“I tried to stop the police officers who were dragging him [ the detainee at the rally — OVD-Info ] to the service bus,” says Podolyak. “At the same time, I told the police officers to stop and stop their actions, which caused physical pain. At one point, I saw that he lost consciousness, but the faces in uniform did not react to my words, in connection with which I touched one of the representatives of the authorities with my foot, while hitting only his clothes, namely his pants ... I remember exactly that I did not strike a representative of the authorities. I kicked a representative of the authorities, because my hands were busy with a dog and a telephone. He did not feel that moment and did not pay attention to my gesture, but my gesture was noticed by the policeman who was conducting operational filming and shouted: “She attacked the policeman.”

After that, the woman was also detained and taken to the police station. She claims that she did not come to the action of Navalny's supporters, but for the St. George ribbons, which were officially distributed in this place by United Russia - this event was held in parallel with the action "He is not our tsar."

The opening of a criminal case against Podolyak became known on May 16.

Podolyak heads the regional sports public organization "Union of skiers and racers of the Krasnoyarsk Territory". In 2011, she ran for the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. In 2012, she was a confidant of Russian presidential candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and then she ran for the post of head of Krasnoyarsk.

• According to OVD-Info, 45 people were detained at the action “He is not our king” in Krasnoyarsk . Throughout Russia - at least 1600.
• In St. Petersburg, Mikhail Tsakunov, who was detained on May 5, was arrested for two months on charges of using violence against a policeman (part 2 of article 318 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, the young man knocked out a law enforcement officer's tooth.
• In Chelyabinsk, the coordinator of the local headquarters of Alexei Navalny, Boris Zolotarevsky, became a defendant in a criminal case in connection with the May 5 action. He is suspected of hooliganism committed by a group of persons by prior agreement (part 2 of article 213 of the Criminal Code).