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Four more defendants in Manezh Square case to be sentenced Wednesday

There are four prisoners in the dock – Nikolai Dvoinyakov, 23, Grigory Bilchenko, 18, Vladimir Kirpichnikov, 22, and Vitaly Vasin, 24
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, August 8 (Itar-Tass) —— The Moscow Tverskoy District Court will sentence four defendants in the second case of Manezh Square riots in December 2010 on Wednesday.

There are four prisoners in the dock – Nikolai Dvoinyakov, 23, Grigory Bilchenko, 18, Vladimir Kirpichnikov, 22, and Vitaly Vasin, 24.

The prosecutors demanded two-year suspended sentences for diabetic Vasin and underage Bilchenko. Three-year sentences were demanded for the two other defendants.

According to detectives, the defendants appealed for riots at the Manezh Square gathering, which commemorated Spartak soccer team fan Yegor Sviridov killed in a brawl. “They flagrantly breached peace, showed disrespect for the society and used various objects as weapons. They also used violence against police officers and tried to incite racially and socially motivated hatred,” the detectives said.

The first Manezh Square trial was held last year. The Moscow Tverskoy District Court sentenced five defendants from two to 5.5 years in October 2011, and the Moscow City Court cut sentences of several convicts by a few months.

Sviridov died in a brawl with North Caucasian natives in December 2010, and riots occurred several days after. Up to 5,000 soccer fans and members of nationalist organizations gathered on Manezh Square to express their indignation at the release of suspected killers on their own recognizance. The illegal rally developed into clashes with the police. Later on Sviridov’s killers were convicted.