Lawyers, human rights activists and experts commented on the loud article "Medusa" on the connection of the defendants of the case "network"* with murder

The Medusa publication has released a material that states that some of the defendants in the case of the "network"* may be involved in the murder of a young man, the disappearance of the girl and the sale of drugs. The publication is based on the words of familiar convicts. One of them, who left Russia, Alexei Poltavets, told reporters about his involvement in the murder, in which the convicts in the case of the "network"* Maxim Ivankin (received 13 years of colony of maximum regime) and Dmitry Pchelintsev (18 years in colony) can allegedly be involved.

The article notes that the FSB knew about the suspicions of the involvement of the defendants in the case of the “network”* in the murder, but did not report this to the Investigative Committee, since “I would have to transfer the case materials with not very convincing evidence of terrorist activity”.

In the afterword, the material reports that in the near future the "Medusa" will publish a detailed material about the version of the Poltava, "the details of which need a thorough check." In a special appeal to readers, the publication called the published text "one of the most difficult in the history of the editorial office."

“We are aware that this is a heavy blow to everyone who supports the defendants in the case. For their relatives and friends. For those who go out on the streets to protest against injustice. Many facts still hardly fit in our heads, but we also have no right to hide such important information,” the appeal says.

The editorial office emphasized that they still consider the case of a “network”* falsified and built on evidence, knocked out under torture. “We will seek an objective investigation against people who found ourselves in a fictional case of the“ network ”*, and security officials involved in official crimes,” the journalists added.

One of the authors of the investigation Maxim Solopov wrote in Telegram that he was inclined to believe Alexei Poltava: “Why? This is a confession is not under torture. When he told everything, I suggested that he decide: either I will forget about this conversation, as I have to forget about many, and then he will wait until everything pops up or does not emerge, or we will publish his version and I am sure, I am sure that he has committed it and, I am sure. Such an act will find understanding. "

The Medusa material caused a predominantly negative reaction. The lawyer of Pchelintsev Oksana Markeeva called him delirium and a stuffing from the security forces. “If they were involved [in the murder], and they were interrogated as witnesses in the murder case when they were in a pre -trial detention center, the FSB would certainly have caught on this. And now about the case of the“ Network ”* no one would have known,” she said “MBH Media” .

“I did not expect that such a strong media that has an appropriate reputation will descend to this,” Markieva complained in a commentary on the Radio station Echo of Moscow . According to the lawyer, the purpose of publication could be a decrease in the level of public support of the defendants in the case.

“The guys were tortured. Under torture, they recognized what was not. Would they really admit that they were killed and something happened?” Markeeva noted. In her opinion, the article "Medusa" can adversely affect the upcoming trial in relation to the defendants of the case from St. Petersburg Viktor Filinkov and Julia Boyarshinov.

Markeeva drew attention to the fact that the sources of Medusa explained their testimonies with a desire to help innocently convicted on charges of terrorism, but in reality "do everything to get worse." "I believe that here there is no good thoughts related to the protection of the guys.

The head of the Law Department of the Rus Sitting Foundation, a former investigator and prosecutor Alexei Fedyarov doubted that the FSB investigators did not take the opportunity to bind the defendants in the case of a “network”* with a double murder. “Why didn’t the Poltava version pop up? Only one answer suggests itself. I think this version was tested for a long time and recognized as untenable. And I also believe that“ Meduza ”is known. It’s just silent. It happens on the murder’s affairs, the person comes and says it. And I killed, and buried it. Remeting yells, delay and you understand that this is blessed,” he writes. Facebook .

“This is not an investigation, this is OBS [one grandmother said - approx.] It is called. And very similar to the drain. As if someone was holding the causal place and remembered something,” commented Olga Romanova, director of the Russia -sitting project, drawing attention to the fact that there are no comments on lawyers in the article “Medusa”.

The human rights activist and journalist Zoya Svetova called the material “helplessly in professional terms” and expressed bewilderment why it was necessary to publish the version of the Poltava, if the note says that her details needed a thorough test. “Then the question is: why are you publishing an unverified version? Here is the answer, in particular, about a rush: in order to discredit the defendants of the case of the“ network ”*. Human rights activists and activists may continue to fit for them, and politicians are unlikely,” writes Svetova.

On February 10, the Volga District Military Court sentenced the seven defendants in the case of the “network” to imprisonment of six to 18 years in the colony on charges of “organizing the activities of the terrorist community or participation in it” (part 1 and 2 of article 205.4 of the Criminal Code). The court supported the version of the state prosecution, according to which the "network"* was an inter-regional terrorist organization with cells in Penza, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The largest terms were received by Dmitry Pchelintsev, whom he considers the accusation by the creator of the "Network"* (18 years in a maximum security colony), Ilya Shakursky (16 years of colony), Andrei Chernov (14 years old) and Maxim Ivankin (13 years old). The convicts said that they knocked out confessions under torture: they were taken to the forest and beaten, tortured with strangulation and current, hung upside down in a pre -trial detention center.

The verdict caused a large public outcry. In support of the defendants in the "Network"*, scientists , filmmakers, teachers, psychologists, booksellers , artists, animators, IT specialists, doctors and lawyers of St. Petersburg performed. They demand to revise the verdict and punish those responsible for the use of torture. Pickets with similar requirements are held throughout the country.