The 4th Cassation Court in Krasnodar upheld the sentence of human rights activist Igor Nagavkin and did not assign him a real term, as the prosecutor's office demanded. This was reported by the "Caucasian Knot".
Nagavkin himself asked to be fully acquitted and intends to continue to do so. "I will send a complaint to the Supreme Court. I will ask the Constitutional Court to resolve some issues. The facts of falsifications on the part of the investigation must be investigated, they must be given a legal assessment in court, and the sentence against me must be overturned. I am waiting for the reasoning of the Cassation Court. It will be interesting to see how they explain their decision," he told journalists.
In 2016, a theft case was opened against Nagavkin. He and three other men were charged with theft on an especially large scale (clause "b" of Part 4 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code) and attempted theft on a large scale (clause "c" of Part 3 of Article 158 with the application of Part 3 of Article 30 of the Criminal Code). In April 2023, the human rights activist was sentenced to six years in a general regime penal colony. On appeal, the term was reduced by two months. From the very beginning, Nagavkin called the case falsified and believes that the prosecution is revenge for attempts to expose the drug mafia in the security forces.
On February 27, the Cassation Court in Krasnodar sent the case back to the appellate court for review. The court pointed out the unmotivated rejection of the defense's arguments. The prosecutor's office asked to reclassify the severity of the "crime" from severe to moderate and to mitigate the punishment due to procedural violations.
On April 23, in a second appeal, the court agreed with the prosecutor's position: it reclassified the severity of the "crime" and ordered Nagavkin's release from the pretrial detention center in connection with the actual completion of his sentence. Instead of the previous articles, Nagavkin was charged with theft by a group of persons with illegal entry (paragraphs "a" and "b" of Part 2 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code). The prosecutor's office contested this decision.
The headline has been corrected. It incorrectly stated that Igor Nagavkin had been given a suspended sentence.
- In November 2023, another criminal case against Nagavkin was reported. The human rights activist was charged with disorganization of the work of institutions that ensure isolation from society (Part 2 of Article 321 of the Criminal Code). As Nagavkin himself said , on May 15, employees of Pre-trial Detention Center No. 5 in Leninsk (Volgograd Region) reported plans to place him in a cell with rapists and pedophiles. The man threatened to file a complaint with the prosecutor's office, they recorded him on video and handed him over to the Investigative Committee. On May 16, Nagavkin was sent to solitary confinement because of this incident. On June 26, the Leninsky District Court of the Volgograd Region sentenced him to two years of suspended imprisonment; a month later, the prosecutor's office asked to replace the sentence with a real term.