Ukrainian lawmaker detained at Nemtsov mourning march free to leave Russia — police

Russia March 02, 2015, 13:20

Moscow police have no legal claims against Alexey Goncharenko

MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. Moscow police said they have no claims against Ukrainian lawmaker Alexey Goncharenko, who was detained at a Moscow march on Sunday in memory of murdered Russian politician Boris Nemtsov.

Police confirmed in an official statement on Monday that Goncharenko, a member of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, "can leave the territory of Russia when he wishes to."

"After the assessment of all the circumstances, Moscow police have no legal claims against Goncharenko," a spokesperson said.

Goncharenko was released from custody and given a notification that he should appear in court "because he is a citizen of another country and could leave Russia," the police spokesman explained.

The Ukrainian lawmaker had been detained for disobeying a police officer and was issued a protocol on an administrative offence. Goncharenko later claimed that he had received bodily injuries and was provided with no medical assistance at the police department.

Moscow’s police told journalists on Monday that following these "ungrounded statements" made by Goncharenko they decided to unveil a video recording of his detention.

"Therefore, anyone can make sure that the Ukrainian parliamentarian is safe and sound and was treated correctly, in line with the existing legislation," the police spokesman said.

The video is available on the video server of Moscow’s police.

The Antimaidan movement earlier said that Goncharenko had taken part in the massacre of the movement’s activists in Ukraine’s southern port city Odessa on May 2, 2014, when 48 people died in fire at Odessa’s House of Trade Unions.

A criminal case was opened in Russia over an attempt on the life of a Russian citizen who happened to be at the House of Trade Unions in Odessa.

The march in memory of Nemtsov, 55, who was killed by several shots in the back in downtown Moscow overnight to Saturday, was attended by around 21,000 people, police said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the murder was a "provocation."

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