Prosecutor demands 23-year imprisonment for Aslan Cherkesov accused of Yegor Sviridov's murder

Today, at the session of the Moscow City Court on the case on mass brawl in Moscow in 2010, during forensic debates, the prosecutor demanded to sentence Aslan Cherkesov, a native of Nalchik, to 23 years of imprisonment for the murder of Yegor Sviridov, a football fan. Besides, the court listened to final speeches of the defendants.

"I demand to sentence Cherkesov to 23 years of imprisonment in a high security colony and to additional punishment in the form of two years of custodial restraint," stated Prosecutor Maria Semenenko. She clarified that she stated on the aggregate sentence for all charges filed against Aslan Cherkesov: Yegor Sviridov's murder, attempted murder of Sergey Gasparyan, hooliganism, infliction of injury to other victims, robbery.

For the other defendants, the prosecutor demanded a sentence of 8 years of imprisonment in a minimum security colony. She also requested the court to satisfy stated civil lawsuits for the amount of more than 30 thousand roubles, the "RAPSI" reports.

Besides, Maria Semenenko announced the characteristics of the defendants. According to the public prosecutors, earlier, Aslan Cherkesov was prosecuted for theft, hooliganism and infliction of grave bodily injury.

In his turn, Dmitry Pankov, the Cherkesov's lawyer, asked to reclassify the charges to Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("causing death by negligence") and assign more lenient sentence.

According to the lawyer, the prosecutors demand too severe punishment. Besides, the lawyer pointed out that the questions to the jury were made correctly, and this could affect the verdict of the jury, the "RBC" reports.

The lawyer asked the judge to take into account the defendants' young age and lack of criminal records (except for the main defendant). Speaking of Cherkesov, the lawyer presented to the judge the positive characteristics of the defendant from his working and studying places and also reminded that Aslan Cherkesov has a minor child.

Aslan Cherkesov stated that he intended to kill no one and that he believed the prosecutors demanded too severe punishment, the "Echo Moskvy" Radio reports.

"Someone is punished by eight years of conditional sentence for murder, and the prosecutors demand to sentence me for self-defence for 23 years of imprisonment. It means putting an end to the life of my family and my child," Aslan Cherkesov said.

The defendant Nariman Ismailov said that sentence to eight years of imprisonment is too much for the sentence under such article, the "Russkaya Sluzhba Novostei" (Russian News Service) reports.

"They described me as a monster and a beast. However, I'm not guilty - I hit a man who insulted my mother. Thus, my child will go to the first class, when I will be released," he said.

The judge intends to announce the verdict on October 28.