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Moscow court mitigates punishment to Manege disorders participants

Making the judgement the judge dismissed part of charges against the defendants and softened some charges
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, October 29 (Itar-Tass) — The Moscow City Court on Monday mitigated the punishment to two convicts in the second criminal case of disorders in Moscow’s downtown Manezhnaya (Manege) Square in December 2010.

“Thus, the cassation appeal of the prosecution was granted,” the court sources told Itar-Tass.

According to the decision of the Moscow City Court, Nikolai Dvoinyakov who was earlier sentenced to two years’ imprisonment got a sentence reduced by one month to the term that he has actually served in the detention facility, and soon will be released. For the second defendants in the case — Vitaly Vasin, who got a suspended sentence of three years, the Moscow City Court reduced the term by three months.

The sentence was unchanged for the convicted Grigory Bilchenko and Vladimir Kirpichnikov, as it was not appealed.

On August 8, the Tverskoi Court of Moscow handed down its verdict in the second case of the Manezhnaya Square disorders. Nikolai Dvoinyakov was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, Vladimir Kirpichnikov – to 3 years, Grigory Bilchenko and Vitaly Vasin were given suspended sentences of 2 and 3 years, respectively.

Making the judgement the judge dismissed part of charges against the defendants and softened some charges. The court also took into consideration that all the defendants partially admitted guilt and repented.

According to investigators, on December 11, 2010, Dvoinyakov, Kirpichnikov, Bilchenko and Vasin together with other persons called for mass disorders at a rally in Manezhnaya Square in memory of the fan of the Spartak football team, Yegor Sviridov, who was killed in a brawl. In addition, according to the investigation, “they violated public order, expressing a clear disrespect for society, using different objects as weapons.”

It is the second trial in the case of the Manezhnaya Square disorders. In October 2011, the Tverskoi Court of Moscow sentenced the first five defendants in the case to prison terms ranging from 2 to 5.5 years, and later the Moscow City Court mitigated sentences to three of them by several months.

The mass disorders in central Moscow on December 11, 2010 were provoked by the situation around the murder of Yegor Sviridov several days earlier in a scuffle with persons coming from the North Caucasus. Up to 5 thousand football fans and representatives of informal nationalist groups gathered in Manezhnaya Square angered by the fact that the suspects in the murder of Sviridov were released on recognisance. The unauthorised rally turned into clashes with security forces.