Seven persons out of the list of political prisoners did not get into “Medvedev’s list”

The names of seven persons initially included by the opposition into the list of political prisoners are absent among those concerning whom President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev ordered to verify legitimation of their verdicts.

All in all there were 39 names on the list submitted by the opposition, however, the President’s order concerns only 32 of them. Seven persons did not get into the “President’s list”, among them: Bulat Gayanov, Maxim Kalinichenko, Anton Lukin, Taisia Osipova, Vladimir Pereverzin and Maxim Petlin. Igor Sokolov acknowledged guilty of attack at citizens and organizations in Budennovsk and seizure of the Central municipal hospital in 1995 as a result of which 129 people perished, is also not on the list.

Out of the persons whose cases the President ordered Prosecutor General’s to analyze five are connected with events in Northern Caucasus and the South of Russia and five more with mass disturbances in Manezhnaya square of Moscow in December of 2010.

In particular, among these persons there is ex-officer of Inner Troops of the Ministry of Interior Affairs Sergey Arakcheev accused of killing peaceful residents of Chechnya in January, 2003, and December, 2007, and sentenced to 15 years of custody. This verdict of guilty was greeted in Chechnya but in Russian cities actions in Arakcheev’s support passed off.

On June, 15, 2011, Arakcheev recorded a video appeal to Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin in which he stated that he was innocent and asked the Prime Minister to look into the details of his case.

There are also names of Mikhail Klevachev and Vladimir Vlasov accused of blasting ”Moscow-Grozny” train in summer of 2005 and in April, 2007, sentenced by Moscow regional court to 18 and 19 years of custody on “Medvedev’s list”.

The authors of the appeal to the President consider that Klevachev and Vlasov were convicted in spite of failure to prove their guilt and obvious discrepancy of the accusations. “The first jury which brought a verdict of acquittal was dissolved. Political motivation of Vlasov’s persecution was connected with his nationalist views and the necessity to “detect a “high-profile case” at all costs”, the appeal runs.

Native of Chechnya Zara Murtazalieva is among those whose verdict is liable to verification on the “President’s list”. It should be reminded that in January, 2005, Moscow city court acknowledged student from Chechnya Zara Murtazalieva guilty of preparing a series of acts of terror in Moscow and sentenced her to nine years of custody.

Human rights activists declared that the case was forged. The investigation passed off with gross violations, force was used against the defendant and the proofs of Murtazalieva’s guilt were evidently forged, the signers of the appeal to Medvedev state.

The President’s commission also concerns native of Chechnya Lors Khamiev who in April, 2009, was sentenced to eight years of colony for preparation of an act of terror against President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov.

Natives of Chechnya Umar Batukaev and Lors Khamiev initially accused of preparing an act of terror near “Profsoyuznaya” metro station of Moscow during investigation turned into suspects of preparation of an attempt at Ramzan Kadyrov. None of them acknowledged their guilt. Two of the defendants were acquitted by the jurymen of Moscow city court. The human rights activists never believed in reasonableness of accusing the young Chechens of preparing an attempt at Kadyrov.

The names of persons involved in the disturbances in Manezhnaya square of Moscow: Igor Berezhuik, Kirill Unchuk, Ruslan Khubaev, Leonid Panin and Alexander Kozevin were also on the list attached to Dmitry Medvedev’s order.

On December, 11, 2010, over five thousand football fans raised disturbances in Manezhnaya square after a procession in memory of “Spartak” fan Yegor Sviridov killed in a scuffle at night of December, 6, 2010. According to Moscow authorities, 32 people got injured as a result of the disturbances. Activists of “Another Russia” Igor Berezhuik, Kirill Unchuk, Ruslan Khubaev, Leonid Panin and Alexander Kozevin were defendants on the case. On October, 28, 2011, they were sentenced to 2 to 5,5 years of custody.

The authors of the resolution of the meeting of protest in Bolotnaya square of Moscow consider that criminal proceedings against the young men were “preconceived and selective” and the verdict of guilty was politically motivated, in particular, in connection with Unchuk’s membership in “Another Russia”.