MOSCOW, November 7 (Itar-Tass) — The Moscow City Court on Wednesday dropped the proceedings on the appeal by Konstantin Lebedev, an aide to Left Front coordinator Sergei Udaltsov, accused of involvement in the plans to stage mass riots.
The judges made the decision in connection with Lebedev's revoking his appeal.
"The court rules to stop the review of the appeal by lawyer Lavrov against the resolution by Moscow's Basmanny court, which selected custody as the measure of restraint for Lebedev," presiding judge Larisa Guchenkova said in a resolution.
Lebedev reportedly decided to drop his appeal because he "does not believe that the Moscow City Court will overturn the decision by the Basmanny Court."
Sergei Udaltsov, Leonid Razvozzhayev and Konstantin Lebedev are suspects in the case over preparations to stage mass disturbances. Criminal proceedings were instituted over the facts shown in the Anatomy of Protest-2 film, which featured a scene where they were discussing the possibility to stage riots in Moscow and Russian regions.
The meeting, captured by a spycam, took place in Minsk, and involved chairman of the Georgian parliament's committee for defence and security Givi Targamadze, Georgia's consul in Moldova Mikhail Iashvili, their three aides, as well as Udaltsov, Lebedev and Razvozzhayev.
Udaltsov is on recognizance, and Lebedev and Razvozzhayev have been placed under arrest.
Razvozzhayev, who is an aide to lawmaker Ilya Ponomaryov, was put on the federal wanted list. On October 21, he turned himself in to the authorities. He later claimed that he had been kidnapped in Kiev and subjected to torturers for two days.
Subsequent reports said Razvozzhayev had withdrawn his testimony and admission of guilt. The Investigative Committee underlined that it had sufficient evidence against Razvozzhayev without his testimony.
Udaltsov and Ponomaryov repeatedly denied the riot plans. None of the defendants pleaded guilty.