MOSCOW, April 22 (Itar-Tass) – The Moscow City Court on Monday is starting the consideration of the criminal case against Opposition member Konstantin Lebedev – an aide to the Left Front movement coordinator Sergei Udaltsov. Lebedev is accused of rioting in Bolotnaya Square in Moscow and the preparation for the organisation of mass disorders, the court told Itar-Tass.
The trial is expected to be held under a special procedure, which does not provide for the stage of considering evidence of the defendant’s guilt. In this case, his sentence may not exceed two-thirds of the maximum punishment.
Lebedev is charged with “organising mass disorders accompanied by violence, riotous damage, arson, destruction of property” and “preparation for organising mass disorders.”
The investigation believes that “on May 6, 2012 in Moscow Lebedev together with Sergei Udaltsov, Leonid Razvozzhayev and Givi Targamadze organised riots in Bolotnaya Square, accompanied by the use of violence against representatives of the authorities and the destruction of property, in order to destabilise security and stability in the society and destabilise the socio-political situation in Russia.”
“After that, during 2012 continuing their illegal activities they were planning further actions to organise riots in Russia,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said.
“To this end, the accomplices were organising in different regions of Russia, including Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Volgograd, Kazan, as well as in the Republic of Lithuania, the so-called training camps, were recruiting participants in the planned riots, conducted other organisational and preparatory activities, which were stopped by law enforcement officials,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said.