A rally was held in Irkutsk against keeping a wheelchair user in a pre-trial detention center

In Irkutsk, about two hundred people came out to a rally demanding the release of businessman Dmitry Matveev from the pre-trial detention center. He is accused of organizing a kidnapping (Part 2 of Article 126 of the Criminal Code), writes Sibir.Realii.

Matveev is a disabled person of the first group and has been using a wheelchair for 15 years. In addition, the man suffers from epilepsy.

A medical examination concluded that he cannot be kept in an isolation ward; Matveev needs constant medical care and care, the head of the regional association of non-profit organizations of disabled people “Pribaikalye” Sergeev Makeev told the publication. He added that staying in the pre-trial detention center threatens Matveev’s life.

The rally was organized by Baikal region activists. Participants came out with posters: “People in wheelchairs are also citizens of Russia,” “Change the preventive measure for Matveev,” “No person, no problem,” “Freedom for the disabled Matveev,” and “Investigator, remember: disabled people are people too.”

The protesters adopted a resolution demanding that Matveev be released from the pre-trial detention center and that the actions of the employees of the Investigative Committee for the Irkutsk Region be checked. The document will be sent to the President of Russia, the Ombudsman and the Governor of the Irkutsk Region.

Matveev was detained on June 3 on charges of organizing a kidnapping. The local publication Babr writes that the investigation considers the businessman involved in the kidnapping of Ruslan Dukin, who is a witness in a criminal case. He was a business partner of Matveev's ex-wife Tatyana Kazakova. According to investigators, on the evening of June 1, unknown persons stunned Dukin, forced him into a car and drove him away in an unknown direction.