The Moscow Regional Court did not allow listeners and journalists to attend the hearing in the case of Evgeniy Kurakin

In the Moscow Regional Court, which today considered an appeal against the detention of activist and journalist Yevgeny Kurakin, outside Moscow, listeners and journalists were not allowed to attend an open hearing on the activist's case. This was reported to OVD-Info by journalist and public defender Irina Yatsenko.

According to her, only a few listeners who came to support Kurakin were able to get into the courtroom where the appeal was being considered. Irina Yatsenko and Oleg Yelanchik, who had accreditation for the court session as journalists of the Sota edition. Vision, at first they were allowed to pass.

However, at the sight of the journalists, the judge gave the command to the bailiffs: “Press out!”. After that, special forces of the bailiff service pushed Yatsenko and Yelanchik out of the hall. According to Yatsenko, among them was one of the people who detained listeners on July 10 in the building of the Reutov City Court. The bailiffs did not let anyone else into the hall, despite the presence of about 10 empty seats for listeners.

In the courtroom, in addition to a few listeners, there were about 15 unknown people who, according to Yatsenko, were taken there in advance. At the same time, during the meeting, these unknown people freely left and entered the hall through the service entrance, which was closed to outsiders.

The journalists contacted the press secretary of the Moscow Regional Court by phone. She was on vacation, but was indignant at not allowing journalists to attend an open meeting. However, later the press secretary told reporters that she could not contact someone who could quickly respond to the situation: the chairman of the court was absent from her workplace, and the secretary of the court session was busy in the process.

The court session itself also, according to Yatsenko, was held with violations. The defense side filed a motion in which it asked the court to ensure access for all listeners to the courtroom. The court refused to satisfy the petition, answering the defense: "Your listeners are already in the hall." After that, Kurakin challenged the court, but the judge interrupted the activist, not allowing him to substantiate his statement, after which he refused to challenge him.

In the middle of the hearing, the court ordered Dmitry Trunin, Kurakin's lawyer, to be removed from the courtroom, allegedly for video filming. However, Trunin himself stated that he did not film the video. Instead, he recorded what was happening on a dictaphone, because the court forbade videotaping of the trial.

The court denied the defense the appeal and left Kurakin in custody until August 9.

• On July 10, the Reutov City Court reduced Kurakin's time to familiarize himself with the materials of his criminal case, setting a period of 14 days. Listeners and journalists were not allowed into the meeting room. At the same time, unknown people in balaclavas detained five people, and journalist Oleg Yelanchik was among the detainees.
• Yevgeny Kurakin, an activist near Moscow, was detained on June 8 at the Reutov prosecutor's office, where he came himself to file an appeal.
• On June 10, the Reutov City Court sent Kurakin to a pre-trial detention center in connection with a criminal case of fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code). At the same time, a lawyer was not allowed to see him by agreement of Dmitry Trunin, inviting a lawyer by appointment instead of him.
• A criminal case of fraud against Kurakin was initiated in 2012, and since then the activist has been periodically detained under various pretexts related to the criminal case. Human Rights Center "Memorial" recognized the persecution of Kurakin in this case as politically motivated