The Bolotnaya case
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The Bolotnaya case
The Bolotnaya case No. 4 (August 19 - 25) digest august 20 - august 22 Trial of the Twelve Song of the Victims: physical pain and memory lapses. The entire week was devoted to victim testimony. Two police officers: Denis Moiseyev and Denis Kuvatov took the stand. To remind the readers, testimony of police officer Denis Moiseyev, who was a company chief with the second regiment of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Moscow on May 6 2012, began last Thursday. Moiseev was found to be a victim of Sergei Krivov. According to the indictment, Krivov pushed Moiseyev Sergey Krivov and Denis Moiseev: no police sign visible in the chest with his hands, thus Screen from Nevex.tv video causing “physical pain”. The victim declared that he lost his balance and even “made a step back or to the side”. Moiseyev further insisted that on May 6 2012 all police officers wore chest badges. When shown a photo of himself without a chest badge, Moisyev said that he had forgotten, and that some of the police officers may not have worn chest badges that day, and that he does not remember such minute details. In Moiseyev’s opinion, a police uniform is sufficient for citizens to recognize police officers and obey their orders. Moiseyev was not able to point out his location at the time violence was used against him. However, all defence motions to examine the map of Bolotnaya Square were denied by judge Nikishina. Krivov tried to ascertain whether Moiseyev provided his interrogation answers from notes. Moiseev claimed that he did not, and that he spoke from memory. It remains unclear why his interrogation protocols from different dates contained the same number of words and grammatical errors. page 1 Krivov's attorney Vyacheslav Makarov made a motion to exclude Moiseyev from the list of victims, since he did not seek medical attention after suffering “physical pain”. The motion was denied. Krivov or Stupak? On Tuesday, August 20 Krivov and his attorney Makarov suddenly announced that Denis Moiseyev was in fact determined to be a victim of another person - Yury Stupak. This determination was issued on October 4, 2012, and was signed by Moiseev himself. Thus, Moiseev admitted that his pain injury was caused by Stupak, while in court he testified that Krivov was the culprit. Sergei Krivov was arrested in connection with Bolotnaya case only on October 18. Based on apparent contradictions in testimony, Police officer Denis Moiseyev trying to recall Makarov and Krivov made a motion for the what did he say last time, photo by A.Baroshin corresponding pages from the case to be read out in court. Prosecutor Strekalova replied that there were no significant contradictions. Judge Nikishina denied the motion. The shouts of “Shame!” were heard in the courtroom, and bailiffs ejected some of the observers. Vladimir Akimenkov, Artem Savelov, Stepan Zimin, Sergei Krivov, Maria Baronova, and Alexei Polikhovich temporarily refused to participate in the trial. Long-long testimony Moiseev’s testimony continued the next day. Moiseev saw demonstrators throwing shoes, but did not see anyone walking barefoot or fetching an extra pair of shoes. Moiseev had never seen investigator Gurkin, but Gurkin identified him in the video, in which Moiseev was detaining a citizen in a blue jacket. Moiseev was not involved in detentions at all, as this was not a part of his duties, but nevertheless was detaining a citizen in the blue jacket. And so on. Numerous questions were rejected by the judge. Whose order or directive led to removal of chest badges by police? How can Moiseev deny using force against protesters, when video evidence clearly shows him delivering blows to a detained demonstrator? Does Moiseev expect to be promoted after the trial, and does he know that he could retract deliberately false testimony before the verdict, without any facing any consequences? Is he prepared to meet Yuriy Stupak, whose victim he was officially recognized as? page 2 Finally, Denis Moiseev was allowed to go home. On Thursday, August 22 Krivov began with statements about crimes committed: first, by Moiseev, who used violence against demonstrators on Bolotnaya Square; second, by investigator Ermilov, who filed two completely identical interrogation protocols marked with different dates, which constitutes evidence tampering. The judge stated that she does not initiate criminal prosecution, and suggested appealing to The Investigative Committee or the Attorney General’s office. Sergey Krivov being escorted in the court Photo by A.Baroshin Krivov stated once more, that the interrogation protocols were identical, and that initially Moiseev was recognized as a victim of Stupak; that he was recognized as victim only on the basis of his verbal statements about physical pain; that Moiseev’s signatures on the decree of recognizing him as a victim did not look like his other signatures; that Moiseev himself testified that he had not been interrogated in the fall of 2012, while the first interrogation protocol was dated May 19, 2013. The judge, once again, not only refused to treat these interrogation protocols as inadmissible evidence, but allowed them to be read out in courtroom. It could not have been known beforehand if Moiseev was to be interrogated. However, on the morning of the first day of testimony, a special podium had been erected in the courtroom. Krivov called for a stop in collusion between the judge and the prosecution, and filed another futile challenge against the judge. Kuvatov and his twisted finger On Thursday afternoon, a Moscow OMON (special police force) officer Denis Kuvatov began his testimony. According to Kuvatov, he arrested Zimin and saw him throwing chunks of asphalt. Furthermore, Kuvatov sustained a closed fracture of a finger on his right hand after being hit by an asphalt chunk thrown by Zimin. The case includes and expert evaluation, stating that the fracture of the police officer’s finger was caused by a twisting motion. Doctors state that the fracture could not have been the result of a strike by a hard object. Police officer Denis Kuvatov on the trial Photo by NovayaGazeta.ru page 3 Denis Kuvatov has painted another contradictory picture. The protesters acted aggressively and tried to pull police officers into the crowd. Stepan Zimin was into the middle of the dense crowd, there was a stampede, but he could freely move around and attempt to pull police officers into the crowd. Furthermore, Zimin was in an “aggressive mood” and while being arrested “wriggled, and attempted to escape”. It was unclear to the defense how a person with a broken finger was able to arrest a “wriggling” Zimin (Zimin is nearly 2 meters tall, while Kuvatov is much shorter). Kuvatov took a pause and answered: “I grabbed with my other fingers”. The microphone, into which Kuvatov was speaking, started buzzing. Maria Baronova’s lawyer Maxim Badamshin asked: “Your Honour, please tell the witness to put away the mobile phone, and the prosecutor to stop sending him text messages”. Kuvatov put the phone away without a word, and the prosecutor smiled. Kuvatov’s testimony will continue next week. The week of birthdays august 21 Maxim Luzyanin turns 37 So far Maxim Luzyanin is the only person found guilty of taking part in Bolotnaya Square ”mass riots” and assaulting police officers. He is also the only Bolotnaya case defendant to plead guilty to these charges (the second person convicted in Bolotnaya case was Konstantin Lebedev, who admitted to organising the mass riots). By pleading guilty to all charges (however inaccurate), and paying damages to the Maxim Luzyanin shortly after his arrest police (real or not), Maxim was hoped scars from rough arrest are clearly visible to earn a reduced or suspended sentence. However, despite his desire to reunite with his family, Maxim refused to testify against others. While accepting all the charges against himself, Luzyanin consistently stated that he was acting on his own. Luzyanin was sentenced to 4.5 years in a medium-security prison and is now serving his sentence in Novomoskovsk, Tula Oblast. The verdict was read out by judge Fedin of Zamoskvoretsky Moscow District Court. Later Mosgorsud (a higher court) confirmed the verdict. page 4 Luzyanin is married, has a teenage son, lives a healthy lifestyle, is a bodybuilder and owns a fitness club. Relatives state that Maxim’s relationship with his son is more like “brotherhood”. Luzyanin helped the local orthodox eparchy and also assisted in opening a dance and sport studio in a village not far away from Podolsk. Luzyanin’s prison term runs until November 2016. He will be eligible for parole after serving half of his sentence. Luzyanin’s trial Since Luzyanin made an initial guilty plea, his trial was conducted under special processing rules, without much scrutiny of evidence. The defendant is eligible for special processing rules in case of complete admission of guilt. In such cases, the prison term cannot exceed two thirds of the maximum, allowed by law. The prosecution claimed that Luzyanin had injured five policemen – one had his helmet Maxim Luzyanin during the trial smashed through with a piece of asphalt, the Photo by RIA Novosti/S.Kuznetsov other four were beaten. Luzyanin has covered one victim’s (private Prokhorov) expenses for the restoration of his chipped tooth enamel. Luzyanin has identified himself as a masked muscular male seen on the video presented as e vidence. The man on the video is violent towards the police at certain moments, but it is practically impossible to prove or disprove the charges, or to count the real number of illegal acts without conducting a quality independent analysis of the evidence. Even if Luzyanin had indeed assaulted one or more policemen, that alone does not make him guilty of participating in mass riots. At present time, all other Bolotnaya case defendants (excluding Lebedev), their lawyers, the May 6 Committee, and the Presidential Human Rights Commission – all agree that only isolated clashes with police took place on Bolotnaya Square, and these events cannot be qualified as mass riots. Maxim Luzyanin during at the Bolotnaya Square on May 6, 2012 Photo by Grani.ru page 5 Still, all the damages inflicted, according to prosecution, by protesters at Bolotnaya Square were included in Luzyanin’s case: the loss of 20 helmets, 14 bulletproof vests, 29 batons and other anti-riot gear by Moscow police, 28 million roubles worth of damage to square asphalt (est. $850,000) and to portable toilets (73 thousand roubles or $2,200). By merely being present at Bolotnaya Square, Luzyanin became responsible for the entirety of the damage, and hence for the mass riots themselves. Despite the guilty plea, positive references, and reaching a settlement with the victims, the sentence Luzyanin received was neither suspended nor short. “If only he knew the outcome, he would have never pleaded guilty. Let this be a lesson for others – this is what you get if you cooperate with the investigation” – Luzyanin’s friends and relatives were reportedly saying after the trial. Since the case was heard under special processing rules (the trial only included the sentencing phase, and the charges were not contested), the result cannot be used as precedent in trials of other defendants. Still the verdict was already included in Mikhail Kosenko’s case materials. He is charged with assaulting private Kazmin together with Luzyanin. It remains to be seen if Luzyanin’s case will be illegally used to bolster the argument that mass riots took place (based on Luzyanin’s admission). The possibility certainly exists. august 22 Ilya Guschin turns 25 Ilya Guschin has remained in detention since February 2013. He is charged with a police officer’s clothing to interfere with detention of a rally participant. Ilya admitted to having tried to drag a police officer who was bludgeoning a man fallen to the ground away from his victim. A video recording of this episode can be found here: http://grani.ru/blogs/free/entries/211382.html. The investigation classified Guschin's wrongdoing in typical fashion: participation in mass riots and assault against a police officer. Ilya holds the “national-democrat” political views. He was a student of Psychology at Moscow City Psychological-Pedagogical University, on sabbatical at the time of arrest. He lived with his mother in a Moscow suburb of Khimki. page 6 Ilya Guschin Last employed as shop assistant at a household appliances store, Ilya was fond of football and for three years worked as analyst in "Moskva" football club. He was interested in historical fiction and traveled by hitch-hiking (the latter elevated his flight risk in the eyes of the investigation, and was used as an argument for his detention). august 24 Alexandra Naumova (Dukhanina) turns 20 Alexandra (Sasha) was the first to be arrested in connection with the Bolotnaya case. At the time of arrest she was 18. Alexandra did evade the authorities, while for a few weeks continuing to actively participate in street protests (“Occupy Abay” and others). At the end of May 2012 she was arrested at an opposition camp on Arbat Street. Since then the young woman has been under house arrest. She is not allowed to use telephone or the Internet, leave the apartment without police permission, receive letters, or make statements to the press. The investigation has collected 15 video fragments that show a young woman who looks Alexandra in the court photo by A.Baroshin like Alexandra Dukhanina. Some of the video fragments are complete duplicates, while others show the same event from different angles. In the video the young woman is seen to be running forward and throwing various objects. In one instance, she splashes a soft drink from a bottle. According to the prosecution, Dukhanina threw chunks of asphalt no less than 8 times, and one of the chunks hit a police officer in the shoulder, leaving a bruise. None of the videos show the asphalt chunks hitting a police officer or causing any other damage. Like most of the defendants, Alexandra is charged with participating in mass riots and assaulting a police officer. Prior to her arrest, Dukhanina was studying at the Moscow State University School of Translation and Interpretation, specializing in German. She defended the Tsagovsky forest not far from Moscow, was helping stray dogs, and wanted to work as an administrator at a Krishna Center. Sasha is a vegetarian, does not drink, and was an active participant in the “Food instead of Bombs” food drive for the homeless. When participating in opposition street camps just prior to her arrest, Sasha met Artem Naumov. They fell in love and got married a month ago. On second attempt, Alexandra (now Naumova) was able to obtain court permission to serve her house arrest at the husband’s apartment. page 7 ATTENTION! You can write letters to Bolotnaya defendants. Words of support are very important to them. You can write to [email protected], please do not forget to write your name and the name of the intended recipient. We will translate your letters from English to Russian, and forward them to the defendants held in detention facilities. We also can hand your messages to relatives of the defendants who are held under house arrest. Unfortunately, at the moment we can only accommodate translations from English. We can also assist in contacting people involved with the trial, who are under a travel ban or have emigrated. Feel free to reach out to them directly as well! :-) august 22 Lyudmila Alekseyeva: “There will be no show trial. It has been thwarted by the defendants” During her speech at the rally, dedicated to the events of 1991 (defeat of the GKChP coup), the head of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseyeva called for maximum attendance of the Bolotnaya hearings. “…I attend the court hearings of the May 6 prisoners all the time. These are young people, who were randomly snatched from the protest of many thousands… After that rally, they did not expect to find themselves in prison with a prospect of long prison sentences. This is an unexpected situation, and they are holding up well, without fear. They are heroes, no less so than those who defended the White House in 1991. Lyudmila Alekseyeva in the court photo by A.Baroshin This trial was intended as a show trial, mimicking Stalin’s trials, where defendants were ‘broken’, where they ‘repented’, where they ‘condemned’ their own actions, where everybody was ‘outraged’… Now we can say, that they did not get a show trial. It has been thwarted by the defendants. Because they are not going to repent and beg for freedom, instead they fight for their and our freedom. Now we need to make sure, that this shameful trial becomes the show trial of those, who have staged it. The defendants cannot do this, only we, the Moscovites, who took to the streets in 1991 can do this. Those, who attend the protest rallies today, those who are not indifferent to their own future, and the future of their children, can do this. There is only one very straightforward way of achieving this: mass rejection of this trial. Perhaps not tens of thousands, but at least thousands should come to this court building, where these kids are on trial for nothing…” The full text of Lyudmila Alekseyeva’s speech in Russian can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=672451519433550 page 8 What is the case of Bolotnaya? May 6, 2012 on the eve of the third inauguration of Vladimir Putin the opposition got an approval from Moscow authorities to hol a march on the Bolshaya Yakimanka and a rally in Bolotnaya square for 5,000 people. In reality, about 50,000 people came to the demonstration. Peaceful march at the entrance to Bolotnaya square ran into a police chain, which had made the passage to the place of a rally extremely narrow. After an hour of standing in the rising hustle, people broke through the chain. Police launched arrests with the use of batons, pain and choke holds. Around this time, an unknown person threw a Molotov cocktail, causing the pants of one of the demonstrators started burning. Arrests and beatings occurred in a random order. Sergei Krivov is being beaten by the police Most of the demonstrators could not leave the at the Bolotnaya square, May 6, 2012 Bolotnaya square, as it is located on the bank of the river, and the bridge was crowded with people. People tried to fight back, usually, in adequate and non-hazardous ways (like throwing empty plastic bottles). There were, however, occasional outbreaks of serious aggression against the police: for example, several people took off ammo of a policeman and punched him. About 600 people have been arrested, dozens were subjected to administrative arrest. The investigation classified the incident as organized riots. Only one of the accused of involvement in the riots, Maxim Lusyanin, hoping for a light sentence, admitted his guilt (heproved himself of being himself in an big strong man in a black mask, who was beating a policeman) and received 4.5 years of general regime penal colony. Now 15 people are under arrest in charge of involvement in the riots, two are under house arrest, 6 people are under written undertaking not to leave the place (4 of which were not even at Bolotnaya Square on the May 6, and were detained at another opposition campaign on Manezhnaya Square). An activist of the "Solidarity" movement Anastasia Rybachenko left Russia and is studying in Estonia. In October the investigation accused Sergei Udaltsov, Leonid Razvozzhaev and Konstantin Lebedev in organizing mass riots. If you want to be informed about the events of the Bolotnaya case, please write to [email protected] page 9