Figurants in case on riots in Manege Square demand to be free of handcuffs in courtroom

The Tver District Court of Moscow sentenced five defendants on case on riots at Manege Square in December 2010 to 2-5.5 years of imprisonment.

At the beginning of the court session, the defendant Khubaev voiced his protest to the court that "during the announcement of verdict and sentence, the defendants were handcuffed," justifying his objections by presumption of innocence, in accordance to which, they were presumed innocent.

Announcement of the verdict lasted over 1.5 hours.

The court sentenced the defendant Berezyuk to 5 years and 6 months of imprisonment in a minimum security colony, Unchuk - to 3 years of imprisonment in a minimum security colony, Khubaev a - to 4 years of imprisonment at high security colony, Kozevin - to 2 years of imprisonment at high security colony, Panin - to 2 years of imprisonment in a minimum security colony.

The defendants were found guilty of the several incriminated crimes and sentenced to less imprisonment terms than the prosecutor Alexei Smirnov requested.

The announcement of the verdict was attended by a large number of TV and press photographers, journalists of publicist editions, and relatives of the defendants. Eduard Limonov, Chairman of the "The Other Russia" Party, unregistered in the Russian Federation, also came to the courtroom.

The victims failed to attend the announcement of the verdict.