MOSCOW, November 7 (Itar-Tass) — The Moscow City Court on Wednesday upheld the arrest of Leonid Razvozzhayev, an aide to a State Duma lawmaker. Razvozzhayev is accused of plotting to stage mass disturbances.
"The Moscow City Court rules to leave the resolution by the Basmanny court on selecting arrest as the measure of restraint for Razvozzhayev unchanged," the Court said in a resolution.
His lawyers said they would appeal the ruling.
"We'll continue to defend Razvozzhayev with all available legal methods. We believe we have important things to state in this case," a lawyer said.
Razvozzhayev was watching the review via video link.
He said he had been abducted and forced to tar the reputation of Opposition leaders, and then he was handed over to the investigators who is handling his case.
In this connection, Razvozzhayev asked the court to protect his family which he said had already been threatened.
The Opposition activist said he had no intention to escape and that he went to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Ukraine for "obtaining the refugee status legally."
The prosecutor for the state asked the court to leave Razvozzhayev in custody.
"I'm asking to leave the resolution by the Basmanny court unchanged; it fully conforms to the requirements of the law," the prosecutor said.
Razvozzhayev's defence complained that his lawyer Violetta Volkova had not been allowed to attend the hearing, while his other lawyer, Anna Stavitskaya, pointed out that the court of original jurisdiction had violated articles of the European convention on human rights.
At the beginning of the hearing, the court met the petition by lawyer Dmitry Agranovsky to attach a number of documents to the case. These include a document from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. According to the document, Razvozzhayev had come to the office to submit an application to seek the refugee status in Ukraine. He left the office for a break and never returned. Also, the court is to examine a statement by an office employee who claimed she had seen Razvozzhayev's abduction.
The court also received the personal guarantee from State Duma lawmaker Ilya Ponomaryov for his aide.
Agranovsky said Razvozzhayev was seeking the refugee status and Ukraine, and under the law, could not be extradited.
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 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.