Pre-trial detention for defendants in the "sanitary case" has been upheld

The Moscow City Court upheld the house arrest of Pussy Riot member and defendant in the "sanitary case" Maria Alyokhina. This was reported by "Apologiya Protesta" with reference to lawyer Daniil Berman.

The defendants in the "sanitary case" are accused of inciting violations of sanitary norms (Part 1 of Article 236 of the Criminal Code with the application of Part 4 of Article 33 of the Criminal Code): according to the investigation, because they called on people to participate in the January 23 rally in support of Alexei Navalny, there was a risk of contracting the coronavirus.

The court did not satisfy the appeal against the preventive measure. Alekhina has been under house arrest since January 20.

Before the court hearing, an administrative protocol was drawn up against Alekhina under the article on failure to comply with a legal order of a bailiff to ensure the established order of the courts' activities (Part 2 of Article 17.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). Alekhina tried to video record the court hearing on April 7, but the court asked her to turn off the camera. Under this article, she could face a fine of up to a thousand rubles.

The day before, the Moscow City Court in its appeal replaced house arrest with a ban on certain actions for Alexei Navalny's brother Oleg, lawyer for the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) Lyubov Sobol, municipal deputies Lyudmila Shteyn and Konstantin Yankauskas. Now they are prohibited from leaving their homes from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., communicating with persons involved in the case, and sending and receiving mail and telegraph messages. The ban on these actions will last until June 23.

13:00 House arrest was also upheld for three other defendants in the case: municipal deputy Dmitry Baranovsky, coordinator of Navalny’s Moscow headquarters Oleg Stepanov, and FBK press secretary Kira Yarmysh, MBKh Media reports , citing the court’s press service.

13:35 The Moscow City Court upheld the measure of restraint in the form of a ban on certain actions against FBK supporter Nikolai Lyaskin. This was reported by OVD-Info lawyer Sergei Telnov.

14:35 The Moscow City Court also upheld the measure of restraint in the form of a ban on certain actions for the head of the “Doctors’ Alliance” Anastasia Vasilyeva, reports lawyer Telnov.

Headline updated. Erroneous information about Lyaskin's house arrest being extended has been removed.

• In connection with the detention of Alexei Navalny, a series of protests took place across Russia. The largest protests took place on Saturday, January 23 and Sunday, January 31. Security forces responded harshly to the protests: on January 23, they detained more than 4,000 people , and on January 31, more than 5,500 . On the day the Yves Rocher case was replaced with a real one, there were also detentions near the Moscow City Court building, including journalists.
• In total, at least 90 criminal cases have already been opened across the country in the wake of protests over the trial of Alexei Navalny.