“I read about the action online”: Nizhny Novgorod National Bolsheviks are being tried for insulting a judge

Ramazan Suleymanov was detained on November 14, 2020, first as a witness, and after the identification procedure he was transferred to the status of a suspect. “No one explained to me why I was being detained and what I was charged with. I already learned this from the case materials. It said that employees of police department No. 5 (Suleymanov was brought there for identification - OVD-Info) recognized me as the man who hung the banner. They allegedly identified me by my jacket with a hood,” says a resident of Nizhny Novgorod.

He knew little about judge Mikhail Antonov before his arrest - at least that’s what the National Bolshevik claims. “I had already read about the action on the Internet and roughly understood what kind of judge he was. I never met him personally,” adds Suleymanov.

He is sure that he became a suspect in this case because of his active civic position: “I am a member of the “Other Russia” movement of E.V. Limonov, I participate in many public events. They took me as the most noticeable one.”

Suleymanov was released on the morning of November 15 after 12 hours of interrogation and a search of his home. A preventive measure was chosen for him in the form of a written undertaking not to leave the place and proper behavior. Under Part 2 of Article 297 of the Criminal Code , which the National Bolshevik is charged with, he faces a fine of up to two hundred thousand rubles, compulsory or correctional labor, or arrest for up to six months.