Press Release, 10.06.2021

Photo by depositphotos/3drenderings

Trials of the participants of the April 21 rally in support of political prisoners continue in the Ivanovo region. Five sessions of the courts of first instance have taken place by today. In all the cases, the hearings were postponed at the request of the defence to establish additional circumstances and motions to summon witnesses. The interests of those detained at the rally are represented by defenders Yulia Kambur and Andrei Lyamzin, who collaborate with the Ivanovo branch of Yabloko.

Accroding to Yulia Kambur, flagrant violations were revealed in the administrative protocols: in one of the cases, the time of the already drawn up protocol differed by three hours from the time the participant of the rally was brought to the police station for registration.

“Initially, there was a feeling that the courts were going to bring all the participants of the rally to administrative responsibility without deep immersion in the topic, as they say. But we manage to convey to the judges all the absurdity of what is happening. Public order was not disturbed in any of the cases. The video materials presented by the police officers to the court clearly demonstrated this,” the lawyer noted.

At present, it is known about 45 protocols submitted to the court in the “April 21 case”. Given the large number of the upcoming hearing, the Ivanovo branch of Yabloko invites lawyers to engage in the protection of human rights.

Activists of the Ivanovo branch of Yabloko emphasise that the main task of the campaign is to ensure equality and adversarial proceedings, guarantee qualified legal assistance to the protesters, rather than pay possible fines only.