Two defence witnesses questioned at trial on riots in Manege Square

At the trial in the Tver Court of Moscow considering the riots in Manege Square then burst out in December 2010, the journalists of the editions "Grani.ru" and "Agency of Political News" (APN) gave their evidences as witnesses for the defence.

Konstantin Krylov, the editor-in-chief of the APN, was in Manege Square on the day of the riots and characterized the events as "a continuation of the funeral events in Kronstadt Boulevard related to the murder of Yegor Sviridov."

In his opinion, "people were not willing to use violence; they came to express their civic position, in the truest sense of the word - to force the authorities to hear them."

Mr Krylov has assured that he heard people scanting in the square "Murderers to justice!"

The journalist of the "Grani" Dmitri Borko described the events on December 11, 2010, as "an uncontrollable situation." He also said that he saw "OMON fighters attacking, beating off with truncheons, and cutting in by wedges into the crowd."

Also, Natalia Antipova, the mother of the defendant Panin, was questioned on characteristics her son's personality. She asked the court "not to punish her son severely and sentence him to community service."

Let us remind you that the today's session also questioned the writer and chairman of "The Other Russia" Party Eduard Limonov and a member of the political board of the organization "Russian Public Movement" Vladimir Tor.

Mr Limonov explained that in "The Other Russia" nobody had planned to participate in any riots and call to them; he treated the events in Manege Square as spontaneous. Despite the fact that he was not in Manege Square on December 11, he concluded from reports in media that "people were rushing around not knowing what to do."