Press Release, 15.10.2019

Today, the Moscow Region Court considered the appeal on the measure of restraint in the case of Yevgeny Kurakin, head of the branch of Yabloko in Reutov, the Moscow Region. The court ruled out to return the case to the preliminary hearing stage to the Reutov court (the court of the first instance), and the decision to return the case to the public prosecutor was canceled.

The criminal case of fraud under of Article 159 Part 4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was instituted against Kurakin back in 2012, but for all these years the investigation failed to provide convincing evidence of his guilt. The activist spent 18 months in a pre-trial detention centre and was released only after a security deposit of three million roubles was paid. In September 2019, Kurakin  planned to run for election to the city Council of Deputies. Simultaneously with the decision to participate in the elections, his release on bail was canceled and replaced by detention, allegedly because of his reluctance to read the case file.

Video: Trial over Yevgeny Kurakin, bailiffs beat the public and the press who came to the hearings to support Kurakin.

Yabloko is convinced that the persecution of the activist was connected with his successful activity as the head of the homeowners association of the block of flats where he lived. Thus, for example, he succeeded get 80 million roubles of compensation from a developer affiliated with the city authorities for violations during construction of the house. In addition, it was thanks to Kurakin that his neighbours paid significantly less for housing and ulities than other apartment owners in Reutov. Also, being a co-founder of the Anti-Corruption Information Agency media, Kurakin published information about the corruption of Alexander Khodyrev, former head of the city of Reutov, which provoked indignation among representatives of regional authorities.

All court hearings in the case took place with gross violations of the law. For example, on July 10, 2019, supporters of Yevgeny Kurakin and media representatives who came to the trial and were in the lobby of the first floor of the court were attacked by unidentified persons in combat gear (balaclava, body armour, tactical gloves, pistols in holster and rubber batons), moreover, they were attacked without any warnings and demands. The purpose of this attack was to clean up the court building from the supporters of Yevgeny Kurakin, as well as to seize cameras and phones from those who filmed what was happening.

https://youtu.be/LEef1MM9bD4

Alexei Romanov, then Chairman of the Reutov city court, was in the courthouse, and watched what was happening from the stairs leading to the second floor. He was not only aware of the presence of fighters of the rapid reaction team of the Federal Bailiffs Service Department of the Moscow Region,  but it can not be ruled out that he personally ordered them to use force against citizens and the press.

After these events, Yabloko Deputy Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, who was present in court, sent appeals to the Public Prosecutor General and the head of the Federal Bailiffs Service. However, instead of punishing officials, they punished citizens. They issued protocols of administrative offense under of Article 17 Part 2  Administrative Code (failure to comply with the lawful order of the bailiff to ensure the established procedure for the courts to terminate actions that violate the rules established in court) virtually to all present in court that day.

Recently Nikolai Rybakov have received a response from the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Moscow Region, which states that a procedural audit has been carried out with respect to the bailiffs, the audit has not yet been completed. Nikolai Rybakov stated that transferring Kurakin to house arrest was yet another proof of his innocence. Also, according to Rybakov, drawing public attention to the trial resulted in the revision of the preventive measure.