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RF Investigative Committee completes evidence collection in May 6 mass disorders case

A total of 18 people are defendants in the Bolotnaya Square case

The Russian Investigative Committee (SK) has announced the completion of collection of evidence against 12 defendants in the criminal case over mass disorders in Bolotnaya Square in Moscow on May 6.

The Vedomosti newspaper writes with reference to SK spokesman Vladimir Markin that the criminal case against Alexandra Dukhanina, Andrei Barabanov, Stepan Zimin, Denis Lutskevich, Yaroslav Belousov, Vladimir Akimenkov, Leonid Kovyazin, Artem Savelov, Nikolai Kavkazsky, Alexei Polikhovich, Sergei Krivov and Maria Baronova has been separated. Depending on the role of each the defendants are accused of participation in mass disorders, use of violence against representatives of the authorities and making calls for defying the authorities. According to Markin, the investigation continues to search for other rioters.

A total of 18 people are defendants in the Bolotnaya Square case, the Vedomosti daily recalls. Maxim Luzyanin (he pleaded guilty and concluded a plea bargain) has already been sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. Court is considering the procedure of compulsory treatment of Mikhail Kozenko. The case of Oleg Arkhipenkov, Fyodor Bakhov, Alexander Kamensky and Rikhard Sobolev (at different times they were released on bail) was not separated.

Most likely this means that no indictment will be brought against them, Dukhanina’s lawyer Dmitry Yefremov believes, and only 12 people will find themselves in the dock. According to a person familiar with the case materials, the main resource of the investigation are video records, and possibly the evidence base against the remaining four defendants is not sufficiently strong. The major public attention to the case has made the SK take a more critical approach to the evidence, and some of the defendants were not present in Bolotnaya Square at all, Pavel Chikov of the Agora human rights association recalls.