Rally against court arbitrariness held in Rostov-on-Don

On December 15, in Rostov-on-Don, resident of the region, discontented with the judges' decision, held a protest rally against court arbitrariness in front of the building of the Regional Court.

"My son was unlawfully sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment. He has spent already 4 years in prison for the crime that he did not committed. He was convicted for use and sale of drugs, which had been planted to him by drug control officers. And the woman-judge sentenced him to that form of penalty, not even having all evidence," said Galina Tselovalnik, one of the protester.

Galina Tselovalnik, the participant of the today's protest action, also stated that her son had been robbed during his detention and that evidence against him was falsified.

"On the day before his detention, he sold his car, and drug control officers have stolen from him 136,000 roubles. He was detained unlawfully, and only some time later, he was brought to investigator. It turned out that on the other days, a real drug addict was detained, and they just beat him to get his testimony of five accomplices. He just named the names of his acquaintances. The drug control officers began to plant drugs to them and detain them. And in the end the situation resulted in the trials. Another three of his acquaintances, convicted like my son, were sentenced to 5-8 years of imprisonment," stated Galina Tselovalnik.

According to the protester, she has about 11 decisions on denial to institute a criminal case against her son.

"I can prove that examinations bear forged signatures. Besides, how could my son be accused of selling drugs without conducting a test purchase with marked bank notes? I appealed to the Regional Prosecutor several times; however, no one wants to conduct an investigation," said the protester.

Participants of the rally stated that the rally was neither the first nor the last one.

"The today's rally has been sanctioned. However, yesterday we went out on our own, and bailiffs tried to disperse us. Journalists attended our rally and they also were asked to leave," said Galina Tselovalnik.

According to protester Vyacheslav Altukhov, court arbitrariness made him and his colleagues to create the social movement "People's Legal Control", which included lawyers and advocates.

The protesters called the active interest of passers-by. Many people stopped to read posters and ask about what had happened. Other people told their stories.

The rally lasted about an hour, and, according to the picketers, no representatives of the Regional Court came out to them.

The press service of the Rostov Regional Court reported that the picketers would be able to obtain comments on the rally and their claims only after a formal written request.