Press Release, 3.09.2019

Photo: Karina Gradusova / Yabloko Press Service

The Investigative Committee has stopped the criminal prosecution of Yabloko activist Valery Kostenok and four other defendants accused of participation in the “riots” in Moscow on 27 July.

As follows from the message on the website of the Investigative Committee, “the decision was made by the investigators based on the results of an objective legal assessment of all the materials studied, including video recordings of surveillance cameras”.

A pre-trial restraint in the form of detention imposed on Kotenok by court was also canceled. It is expected that Valery Kostenok will be released from the temporary detention centre, where he has been kept, already today.

At the same time, the Investigative Committee saw the “signs of an administrative offense” in the actions of Kostenok and other persons involved in the case and sent the relevant materials to the police.

“The accusations against the persons involved in the July 27 case were so groundless, cynical and far-fetched that the only thing that could be done was to withdraw them. I am glad for the guys. Russia will be free! ” Yabloko Chair Emilia Slabunova commented on the decision of the Investigative Committee.

Kirill Goncharov, friend of Valery Kostenok and unregistered Yabloko candidate for the Moscow City Duma election, expressed his hope that all the defendants in the so-called “the Moscow riots case” will be free, because the decision of the Investigative Committee concerns only five out of fourteen people. “Valera stood on his dignity during the arrest and did not give up. Thanks to everyone who helped and supported him, this support was felt and it was felt by his relatives, friends and colleagues,” Goncharov said.

20-year-old Valery Kostenok is a third-year student at Kosygin’s Russian State University, Faculty of Standardization and Metrology. He came to Yablopko in 2017. Valery participated in municipal elections, worked in the presidential campaign of Grigory Yavlinsky in 2018, and was a volunteer in the election headquarters of Kirill Goncharov, Yabloko candidate for deputies of the Moscow City Duma, in the summer of 2019.

After refusal of Moscow electoral commissions to register all candidates to the Moscow City Duma who are independent of the Mayor’s Office, Goncharov inclusive, Kostenok, along with thousands of Muscovites, took part in protest actions demanding their admission to the elections. He was detained at the action on 27 July, and spent two days at the police station.

On 11 August, a search was held in Kostenok’s apartment in Moscow. Officers of the Investigative Committee opened the door to his apartment, without waiting for the arrival of a lawyer. After many hours of interrogation, Kostenok was charged participation in “riots” under Article 212 Part 2 of the Criminal Code. The punishment under this article envisages from three to eight years of imprisonment.

During interrogation, Kostenok did not deny that, on emotions, he threw two small empty plastic bottles at the police, who were violently beating with batons peaceful unarmed protestors just before him. At the same time, “mass riots” Kostenok is charged with, must be accompanied, according to the Criminal Code, by “violence, pogroms, arson, destruction of property, use of weapons, explosive devices, explosive, poisonous or other substances and objects that pose a danger to others, as well as armed resistance to a representative of authorities”.

On 12 August, the Basmanny Court of Moscow sent the student to a pre-trial detention centre for two months – until 11 October. Judge Yevgenia Nikolayeva made such a decision, despite the position of the Public Prosecutor who requested that Kostenok be placed under home arrest and  personal guarantees of Yabloko leaders – Emilia Slabunova and Nikolai Rybakov, as well as several municipal deputies.

On 21 August, the Moscow City Court upheld this decision, although the Public Prosecutor again petitioned for house arrest, and renowned film director Pavel Chukhrai and Grigory Yavlinsky, Yabloko founder and Chairman of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee, expressed their readiness to vouch for Kostenok.

Yabloko considers the criminal prosecution of Valery Kostenok and other people detained in the “Moscow riots” case be purely political and does not doubt their complete innocence.