After two years of arrest, the court released from pre-trial detention center an expert from the Volgograd branch of the movement “For Human Rights”, accused of stealing jewelry.

The Moscow City Court released from custody expert of the Volgograd branch of the movement “For Human Rights” Igor Nagavkin, who had been in pre-trial detention since October 2016 on charges of stealing jewelry (clause “b” of part 4 of article 158 of the Criminal Code), according to the movement’s website.

According to his lawyer Sergei Andropov, the court came to the conclusion that there was red tape in Nagavkin’s case, territorial jurisdiction was violated, and the investigator did not justify the particular complexity of the case, which requires an extension of the arrest.

In addition, the court indicated that the investigator did not eliminate the violations committed during the interrogation of Nagavkin and the filing of charges against him, although this was required by the Cheryomushkinsky District Court of Moscow.

“In this regard, the court decided to immediately release Igor Nagavkin. No subscription, no anything. Nobody, of course, expected this. Even the convoy had never seen anything like this. There is such a stir here!” - Andropov said.

Nagavkin was arrested in Volgograd in October 2016 on charges of stealing jewelry. Then his case was combined with another and transferred to Moscow, since a murder was being investigated in the capital, in which one of his accomplices was accused.

After Nagavkin’s arrest, the head of the movement “For Human Rights,” Lev Ponomarev, called the prosecution of his colleague revenge for “many years of effective struggle for the rights of prisoners, primarily in the Volgograd region.” The movement still insists that the case against Nagavkin is fabricated.