Press Release, November 11, 2013

Criminal prosecution on negligence was initiated against Victor Pershin, the policeman who did not take any actions to stop an attack against YABLOKO’s activist Yevgeny Artemyev. The criminal case against the policeman is brought under the article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Inspector of the Patrol-Guard Service Victor Pershin is already dismissed from the Internal Affairs Agencies.

The decision of the Investigative Committee runs that Pershin who was a policeman on duty had to, as a representative of the authority, adopt measures so that to stop the wrongdoing.

However, the identity of the man in civilian clothes who beat YABLOKO’s Yevgeny Artemyev is not yet established.

“The Internal Affairs Agencies are silent about the man who attacked Yevgeny Artemyev, they try to avoid this topic. But we sent an appeal to the head of the Kemerovo Department of the Russian Ministry of Interior Larionov and demanded to tell the name of man who beat Artemyev and name the organisation he works for”, said representatives of the Kemerovo branch of YABLOKO.

According to some mass media agencies, the man who attacked YABLOKO’s activist works for the Centre for Combating Extremism (Centre E).

Earlier YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin sent a letter to Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, demanding to investigate the attack against Yevgeny Artemyev.

On October 16 Yevgeny Artemyev was beaten in Kemerovo during picketing against election fraud. The incident was recorded by a video camera and caused a public outcry.
See also:

YABLOKO activist was beaten during a one-person picket within sight of a policeman