The court refused to acquit and rehabilitate the deceased human rights activist Sergei Mokhnatkin

The Arkhangelsk Regional Court rejected the complaint of the lawyers of the deceased human rights activist Sergei Mokhnatkin, in which they asked to acquit and rehabilitate their client in a criminal case. This is what SOTA is about.

writes During the consideration of the appeal, the judge, as the publication reports, rejected the requests of lawyer Leonid Krikun: among other things, the defense lawyer asked to consider in the courtroom documents confirming, in his opinion, Mokhnatkin’s innocence.

Thus, the regional court left unchanged the decision of the lower court, which in July opened a criminal case against Mokhnatkin in connection with his death. This case took place in 2018: the human rights activist was charged with contempt of court (Part 1 of Article 297 of the Criminal Code) and the use of violence against a FSIN employee (Part 2 of Article 321 of the Criminal Code).

stopped prosecuting The human rights activist died in May 2020 at the age of 66 while in hospital - he was placed there due to a spinal injury received while in a correctional facility.

In 2014, Mokhnatkin was sentenced to four and a half years in prison, having been found guilty of using violence against police officers (Article 318) during the dispersal of the action of the “Stategy-31” movement. It's about beatings and torture with gas in the colony.

sentenced reported After this, Mokhnatkin was accused of disorganizing the activities of the colony (Part 2 of Article 321 of the Criminal Code) - according to the security forces, he broke the radio of one of the FSIN employees. In 2017, the human rights activist was sentenced to two and a half years of strict regime, taking into account the previous term.

sentenced In 2018, shortly before leaving the colony, another criminal case was filed against Mokhnatkin - again about the disorganization of the work of the institution. The reason for initiating the case could have been a conflict between the human rights activist and correctional facility staff, as a result of which his back was broken. In December 2018, the court released Mokhnatkin from custody. In August 2019, he was charged with contempt of court.

initiated , decided to present In October 2021, the court conducted a posthumous psychological and psychiatric examination of Mokhnatkin. At the same time, experts who previously spoke in court indicated that the actions of the human rights activist were the consequences of prolonged neuropsychic overload and extreme conditions in which he served his sentence.

appointed by Sergei Mokhnatkin, a participant in the protests and a public defender in the Bolotnaya case. "Strategies-31"