In Krasnodar Territory, blogger claims being unlawfully prosecuted

During five months, the investigation into the criminal case against Roman Petrov, a resident of Sochi, a computer programmer and a blogger, accused of stealing an expensive mobile phone, is underway. Roman Petrov himself calls the case fabricated and says that he brought to the police station a mobile phone, which he had found. Investigators deny the information. The Public Chamber of the Russian Federation intends to investigate the situation.

Blogger: I found gadget by chance and became defendant after visit to police station

According to Roman Petrov, in January 2012, while going for skiing in Krasnaya Polyana, he found the iPhone and then took it to the police station. Despite that fact, a criminal case was instituted against him on charges of theft of the phone, and during five months (during the investigation) he was being kept in custody at the SIZO (pre-trial prison).

In his Live Journal, Roman Petrov wrote that policemen beat him, forcing to confess that he had allegedly stolen the phone.

At present, he is under trial. The blogger explains that the schoolboy, who had lost his mobile phone, and his mother sent letters to the prosecutor's office, asking to release him and close the case. In May, after their statement at the trial, the court decided to release Roman Petrov on recognizance not to leave.

The blogger has noted that he might need financial assistance. "As far as money is concerned, I'm short of it. My family spent nearly two million roubles on my mistake. Every lawyer's visit costs 50,000-70,000 roubles, if to take into account the cost of flights from Arkhangelsk and the cost of accommodation," the website "Da! Krasnodar" (Yes! Krasnodar) quotes Roman Petrov.

Investigators: mobile phone was stolen, and police detained Roman Petrov

Chief Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) in the Krasnodar Territory expressed its version of the event. According to a staff member of the MIA's press service, "during the New Year holidays, Roman Petrov was detained in Sochi on suspicion of stealing an iPhone4 worth 34,000 roubles from a schoolboy at the ski resort." According to the detainee, he found the mobile phone on a bench in the locker room and wished to return it to its owner, but could not contact him.

The representative of the investigators clarified that, according to the schoolboy, the latter lost his mobile phone on January 6, and after that he repeatedly sent requests to his mobile phone, asking to return it and indicating a contact phone number; however, no reply followed, the "Yugopolis" reports.

"On January 23, the police detained Roman Petrov, a resident of the Arkhangelsk Region, who strongly denied his guilt. Earlier, he had been brought to criminal liability under Articles 327 (forgery, manufacture or sale of false documents, state awards, stamps, seals, forms) and 159 (fraud) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation," the law enforcement officer has emphasized.

According to his information, after Roman Petrov was taken into custody, the man repeatedly filed complaints to the Investigatory Committee about being beaten by the police; however, examinations revealed no violations. "The examination revealed that in fact, the complainant's body bore no signs of beating, which he claimed," stated the Chief Department of the MIA in the Krasnodar Territory.

Complaints of blogger to be checked by Chief Department of Regional MIA, Prosecutor's Office and Public Chamber

"After numerous publications on the Internet, stating that policemen beat the resident of the Arkhangelsk Region, Vladimir Vinevsky, the head of the Chief Department of the Russian MIA in the Krasnodar Territory, assigned to check the fact of abuse of official authority, allegedly committed by police officers," said a staff member of the Department of the Russian MIA in the Krasnodar Territory.

According to the Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory, the supervisory authority also carries out checks on those publications.

The Committee of the Russian Public Chamber on problems of safety of citizens and interaction with the system of judicial and law enforcement agencies also intends to find out whether the complaints, filed by Roman Petrov, were justified, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

Lawyer: no theft was committed

Yet in March, Sergey Nikitin, the lawyer of Roman Petrov, Deputy Chairman of the Arkhangelsk Regional Bar, stated that he had no such cases in his practice till that case.

"According to Article 158 of the Criminal Code, theft is a secret stealing of other people's property. My client did not take anything secretly. The investigator is obliged to check all possible versions it's his job. In our case, witnesses from the part of the suspect were generally interviewed after the indictment was filed against Roman and after I had filed the motion," the "Moskovsky Komsomolets" quotes Sergey Nikitin as saying.

The lawyer has also expressed his indignation with the fact that the court did not give enough time for presentation of documents and that records from surveillance cameras were not attached to the case materials.

Mother of victim: we do not accuse anyone of theft, we just wanted to return mobile phone

Yet in March, Natalia Matievskaya, the mother of the schoolboy, recognized the victim, stated that she only wished to return the mobile phone.

"More than two weeks have passed from filing a complaint till beginning of its search by the police. And during that time, no one tried to contact me. We did not and do not accuse anyone of theft; moreover, we filed a motion that we have no moral or material claims against that guy. At the militia, we were told that the fact that he pulled out our SIM card and started to use the phone, was a breach of law, and that the iPhone was found namely by the imei number, which we had indicated," she says.

The woman has explained that "her goal was to find and return the mobile phone of her son we need nothing else." "We do not want to throw an innocent guy in prison; however, unfortunately, we cannot help him," she has stressed.