The defendant in the “palace case” Roman Pichuzhin was asked to three years in prison

The defendant in the “palace case”, member of the electoral commission Roman Pichuzhin, was asked to three years in a general regime colony. This was reported by lawyer from OVD-Info Dmitry Zakhvatov.

Pichuzhin is accused of using violence against a government official (Part 1 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code) at a rally in support of Alexei Navalny, which took place on January 31 in Moscow. The activist was detained on March 2 after leaving a special detention center, where he was serving an administrative arrest for 30 days under the article on repeated violation of the rules for participation in public events (Part 8 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code).

On June 28, the court began to consider the case of Roman Pichuzhin on the merits, but on the same day moved on to debates between the parties. The lawyer reports that the verdict may be announced in a few hours.

On March 3, the court chose a preventive measure for Pichuzhin in the form of detention, despite his illness. In May, his stay in the pre-trial detention center was extended , and in June he was transferred to another detention center. He is survived by his wife and son.

18:53 Roman Pichuzhin gives the last word. He does not admit guilt.

19:00 Pichuzhin’s verdict will be announced on June 29 at 15:00, reports lawyer Zakhvatov.

• After the arrest of politician Alexei Navalny, a series of protests took place throughout Russia; mass rallies took place on Saturday, January 23, Sunday, January 31, and February 2 (the day Navalny’s suspended sentence was replaced with a real one). Security forces reacted harshly to the protests: on January 23, more than 4,000 people were detained, on January 31, more than 5,500 , and on February 2, more than 1,400 people .
• In connection with the rallies in support of Alexei Navalny, which took place from January 23 to February 2, more than a hundred criminal cases were opened throughout the country. The protest participants were accused not only of using violence against security forces (Article 318 of the Criminal Code), but also of violating sanitary and epidemiological rules (Part 1 of Article 236 of the Criminal Code), involving minors in illegal activities (Part 2 of Article 151.2 of the Criminal Code), road closures (Article 267 of the Criminal Code). The totality of these cases is called the “palace case,” since one of the catalysts for the protests was the FBK investigative film “ Palace for Putin. The story of the biggest bribe ."