Press Release, 14.08.2019

Photo: Karina Gradusova / Yabloko Press Service

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  detained in the “riots” case be purely political and does not doubt their complete innocence.

More photos of Valery.

The lawyer of Valery Kostenok is Gadzhi Aliyevich Aliyev.