The jury told how the judge of the Moscow Regional Council tried to convince them of the guilt of the defendants - doctors accused of killing a newborn. This is what knows about it

The four jury accused the judge of the Moscow Regional Council Andrei Vyunov of the pressure and imposition of opinions about the guilt of the Kaliningrad doctors Elina Sushkevich and Elena Belaya, who were sentenced to real terms in the case of the murder of the newborn last summer. The jury talked about this on April 18 at a meeting, where an appeal was considered a sentence. According to them, the judge during the process entered the deliberation room and said that the guilt of the doctors was not in doubt, and after the verdict, the assessors received messages from the foreman, who gave them the gratitude of the judge, the UK and the prosecutor's office.

For which Sushkevich and White were judged

In 2018-2020, the case of two Kaliningrad doctors was widely discussed in the Russian media and the medical community. Neonatologist Elin Sushkevich and the head physician of the Kaliningrad maternity hospital No. 4 Elena Bely was accused of the death of a premature child. According to the investigation, Sushkevich, at the direction of Belaya, introduced the newborn, who was already in critical condition, a deadly dose of magnesium sulfate. Having forged the documents, the doctors then wrote down that the child was born dead. The Investigative Committee considered that Belaya went to kill for the “favorable picture of the successful work of the hospital”, because otherwise she would have threatened checks and penalties.

The case was built on the testimony of witnesses from among the employees of the maternity hospital, one of whom claimed to see the moment of the murder. Doctors denied guilt. The conclusions of the examination, which established a direct connection between the introduction of magnesia and the death of the baby, the doctors and their lawyers called unconvincing.

The results of the investigation were also criticized by famous Russian doctors. The campaign in support of Sushkevich was headed by the president of the National Medical Chamber Leonid Roshal. He compared the resonant story with the case of doctors of 1953 and said that he was ready to go to a pre -trial detention center instead of Sushkevich. The correspondence confrontation between the medical community and the head of the UK, Alexander Bastrykin, who more than once publicly called Kaliningrad doctors guilty, lasted all two years that the investigation was going on.

In the winter of 2020, the jury acquitted White and Sushkevich, but the verdict expectedly did not suit the prosecutor's office. The cancellation of the acquittal of the appeal followed. The judges considered that the lawyers through the press “discredited the accusation”, and what they wrote about the defendants on the Internet “caused pity” among the jury.

The new process was no longer in Kaliningrad, but in Moscow. During the court, doctors were sent to the pre -trial detention center, motivating such a measure of restraint by the lack of Moscow registration and fears that they could hide and put pressure on witnesses (during the first process, the court limited himself to a softer preventive measure - house arrest). The case was listened to in the Moscow Regional Council. The new verdict was issued at the end of August 2022. This time, the jury found the doctors guilty, and the presiding judge Andrei Vyunov appointed Belaya and Sushkevich 9.5 and 9 years of the colony, respectively.

A few months later, the defense of doctors expects to cancel this sentence, insisting that the court in Moscow took place with many violations. And the key of them, lawyers say, the pressure of Judge Vyunov on the jury.

What the jury told

Four jury accused Judge Vyunov of pressure and imposing their opinions about the guilt of doctors. This became known on April 18 during the appeal, where four jury came to give explanations.

At the disposal of "Mediazons" there is an audio recording of the court session. The jury said that Vyunov twice during the process entered the deliberation room and tried to convince the college of the guilt of Belaya and Sushkevich.

For the first time, this happened after the jury demonstrated the video in which Elena Belaya on the day of the death of the baby has subordinates that they did not warn her about the appearance of a premature child in the hospital.

“There, in the video, Belaya pronounced such a phrase, such as:“ Did you think yourself with rescuers? ”, Turning to other doctors who were in the video. And the Judge Vyunov, as if explaining to us what he thinks about this, said that "here doctors imagine themselves to be gods and decide who to live and to whom to die," and that he would not allow this in this process. Just like that and so. It followed from his conversation. Therefore, I have a general impression, after he left, it was that the guilty people were sitting on the bench, ”said Elena Potapova, who was part of the main jury. Her words were confirmed by three more jury - Dmitry Donskov, Vadim Churakov and Nikolai Ovseenko.

Ovseenko, who was a reserve, but attended all the meetings in the case of Belaya and Sushkevich, quoted Judge Vyunov from memory: "Without even looking at the video, I am convinced, I am sure of 300 percent that they are guilty."

In addition, all four confirmed that the Judge Vyunov, having entered the deliberation room, praised a forensic medical examination, which formed the basis of the prosecution. “He said that he was in his century, and he has been working for a long time and for a long time, this is one of the most complete and comprehensive examinations that they have ever done. And that the lawyers of the defendants themselves initiated it and framed themselves, since this examination completely blames the defendants, and that it is not doubtful, ”Potapova recalled in court.

Another time, Vyunov went to the jury during a forced break, when one of the defenders became ill and he fainted. According to all four jury, interviewed in appeal, the judge called this fainting “a performance” played in order to disrupt the key witness, and asked the rest of the assessors to stay away from lawyers. Summarizing, Vadim Churakov said that the judge "presented information in the indictment."

Dmitry Donskov, on the day of the verdict was issued, could not go to court at all. On the street, a stranger attached to him, saying that his wife was cheating on him with Donskov. Moreover, a passerby showed messages in the Watsap, where there were personal data of the jury, including the home address. Dmitry had to call the police, but as a result he himself was held in the department for about an hour and a half. Donskov is sure that in this way he was "thrown out of the process."

A couple of days after the meeting, at which the jury received the indictment, they received a message from the foreman of the collegium Sergei Seleznev.

At the appeal, Churakov announced this message. “Vadim, on behalf of the judge, I convey the words of gratitude for your participation in the process. Vadim Yuryevich, thank you so much for the verdict and honestly done work. Take gratitude from the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and all witnesses who, under the pain of the defendants, gave testimony in the case, ”the jury read out. A similar message was received by Elena Potapova.

The idea to tell lawyers about possible violations of Judge Vyunov belonged to Nikolai Ovseenko from the reserve composition of the board. After the verdict, which he considers unfair, Ovseenko found the contacts of one of the defenders and at a meeting told him about the judge’s visits to the deliberative room. Last fall, he contacted three more jury - Potapova, Donskov and Churakov, who, like him, doubted the guilt of the doctors. Subsequently, lawyers interviewed each of them, and the jury agreed to speak in court.

“[Judge] tried to convince us that they were unequivocally guilty,” Ovseenko said when considering an appeal and added that the Judge Vyunov bowed the jury to the idea of ​​the guilt of Sushkevich and Belaya, not only during his sudden visits to the deliberative room, but also throughout the whole process.

According to the jury, before voting, the judge did not even hide fears that the verdict could be justifying. “Even he said such a phrase:“ I’m thinking that there wouldn’t be four by four voting, ”he said.“ I'm afraid there weren’t four by four, ”Ovseenko recalled.

Editor: Dmitry Tkachev