The verdict in the case of the “Kremlin arsonists” was upheld

The Supreme Court upheld the verdict in the case of the “Kremlin arsonists” against Oleg Dmitriev, Sergei Ozerov and Oleg Ivanov. An OVD-Info correspondent reports this from the courtroom.

The defendants were defended by lawyers from OVD-Info: Oleg Dmitriev - Nikolai Fomin, Sergei Ozerov - Alexey Veselov, Oleg Ivanov - Alexander Borkov.

On January 22, 2019, the Moscow District Military Court sentenced Dmitriev and Ozerov to eight years, and Ivanov to seven years in a maximum security colony. According to the prosecution, they were preparing a terrorist attack in the form of arson of the Kremlin (Part 2 of Article 205 using Article 30 of the Criminal Code), timed to coincide with the “revolution” of Vyacheslav Maltsev on November 5, 2017.

The defense insisted that the criminal prosecution of the defendants was illegal and was based on the testimony of classified witnesses.

According to lawyer Veselov, the court had grounds to overturn the decision of the trial court:

“The decision is unfair. The grounds for cancellation were reinforced concrete. In this case, irreparable violations were committed. Accordingly, motions were filed to exclude the evidence on which the entire accusation was based. I think we should appeal.”

“They did not commit any crime; the criminal case was falsified from the very beginning. Secret witnesses were interrogated in the case, whose testimony could not be verified,” Ozerov’s public defender Elena Markova commented on the outcome of the meeting.

• Dmitriev, Ivanov and Ozerovwere detained on November 1, 2017, a few days before Maltsev’s “revolution,” in an apartment in New Moscow. They allegedly found gasoline on the balcony, which they were going to pour on the Kremlin, and on their phones - instructions on how to prepare a Molotov cocktail. Those involved in the case claim that they were victims of provocation.
• During the trial, at the request of the prosecutor's office, the defendants were cleared of charges of participation in a terrorist community (Part 2 of Article 205.4 of the Criminal Code)
• More than 30 people have become defendants in criminal cases in the wake of Maltsev’s “revolution” across the country.