Picketers in Moscow complain of illegal inspectors' methods used in Astrakhan Region

The residents of the Astrakhan Region, who held a picket on December 7 in Pushkin Square, wanted to draw the attention of the President of the country and the public to the situation in the region. Irina Butyrina said, in particular, that her minor son was beaten by militiamen.

The "Caucasian Knot" was told by Liudmila Golikova, another picketer, that when investigating criminal cases the inquiry bodies admit plenty of violations. In particular, in her opinion, they break the norms of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The woman is sure that this was the case with her son Pyotr Golikov. "We were deprived of a chance to get acquainted with the indictment until the trial was over. That is, the guy didn't know based on what evidence he was charged," she explained.

"We want to stop lawlessness in Astrakhan," Irina Butyrina explained the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent the aim of her arrival. "Lawlessness is demonstrated, when they capture innocent children and put them to prison without evidences and without due reasons."

She is sure her son became victim of lawlessness: "He was taken to the militia; they did not admit parents and didn't explain us what had happened. Then, they knocked out evidences from him; the traces of beating him were later fixed; and they asked me afterwards: 'Say that he had fallen down from a tree'," said the protesting woman.

The picket was preceded by a press conference "Astrakhan Kingdom of Lawlessness", which was hosted by the Independent Press Centre in Moscow. The conversation there concerned mainly the work of the investigatory bodies of the Astrakhan Region, in particular, the regional Investigatory Department (ID) of the Russian ICPO (investigatory Committee under the Prosecutor's Office). The information presented at the picket by Golikova and Butyrina was also commented on at the press conference.

One of the major topics of the press conference was the raider's seizure of land in central Astrakhan by bureaucrats for further personal gain, which was accompanied by arsons and criminal prosecution.

Also, the press conference raised an issue about the inquiry into the beating of journalists-observers at polling stations of Astrakhan (on the voting day - October 11, 2009, - the Astrakhan journalist Oleg Teplischev and correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" Vyacheslav Yaschenko were beaten by a group of unidentified persons; the journalists believe that the group of attackers was headed by Deputy of the Astrakhan Regional Duma Rifkat Shabanov).

Besides, the participants of the event criticized the practice of customized criminal cases.

As noted by Lev Ponomaryov, Executive Director of the All-Russian Public Movement (ARPM) "For Human Rights", we should not similarly assess all the cases, which were discussed at the press conference. "However, the fact that the overall picture confirms the truthfulness of allegations of lawlessness is doubtless," said the human rights activist.

The ID of the ICPO for the Astrakhan Region said that at present the employees of the Department are unable to comment on the statements made at the press conference and the picket, since they were not present there and learnt about them only from the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Anna Konyaeva, senior assistant of the head of the ID for PR, explained that comments on the above issues can be made only after getting acquainted with the statements and studying the situation. The "Caucasian Knot" is preparing a written request to the ID of the ICPO for the Astrakhan Region.