Complaint to ECtHR on Cherkesov's sentence to be sent not earlier than March, his lawyer says

The defence of Aslan Cherkesov, a native of Nalchik, convicted for killing Yegor Sviridov, is getting ready to continue the litigation at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), said Dmitry Pankov, Cherkesov's advocate. According to his story, the complaint will be filed no earlier than March, after receipt of the cassation decision of the Russian Supreme Court (SC). On the other hand, Roman Kuchin, who is representing the victims, finds the SC's decision lawful and justified.

Pankov: Cherkesov's access to independent justice and presumption of innocence were broken

"We plan to appeal at the ECtHR against the SC's decision in the context of breaching parts 1 and 2 of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), namely, access to fair trial and encroachment on the presumption of innocence," Dmitry Pankov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The violations, which, according to Pankov, were admitted in the course of proceedings, will also be challenged.

"The ECtHR considers violations of presumption of innocence, namely, an official's statement made on a central TV channel on the guilt or innocence of a suspect. We'll refer to Vladimir Putin's speech at Sviridov's grave, where he mentioned Cherkesov's earlier conviction and stated his guilt. We'll have notarized documents in proof of this fact of broadcasting his speech over Channel One and 'Rossiya' TV Channel "Russia. On these grounds, we'll prepare our complaint to the ECtHR," said Dmitry Pankov.

Kuchin: no nationalism background in the case

Roman Kuchin, the judicial representative of Yana Falaleeva, Yegor Sviridov's widow, and the participants of the fight, who had been recognized as victims in the case, said that the SC's decision was lawful and justified, while Dmitry Pankov's arguments were far-fetched, including the assumption that public statements of a high-ranking state official had influenced the court's decision.

In his opinion, there is no political element in this case; he has treated it as a domestic crime.

"There was one Caucasian among the victims - Sergey Gasparyan; and the convicted were simply appealing to the notion of nationality trying to hide behind it. We believe that it was an ordinary criminal showdown; with no ethnic background. Should there have been other persons in their place, no one would have looked at their nationalities, while the result would have been exactly the same," said Roman Kuchin.

He reminded that without public resonance the case would have not reached the court at all, because initially the participants in the fight had been released. Kuchin also believes that Cherkesov "is a dangerous man and poses danger to people around him."

The decision of the defence to continue litigating at the ECtHR was treated by Roman Kuchin as unsound.

"People need to be constantly in motion; therefore they'll go to the final point, the ECtHR or somewhere else," he assumed.