In Tuapse, at trial on case against activists of "Ecological Watch", three defence motions considered

On May 15, the Tuapse District Court held preliminary court session on the criminal case against Suren Gazaryan and Evgeny Vitishko, the activists of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" and the "Yabloko" Party. At the court session, the court considered 3 out of 14 motions of the defence. The next court session was appointed for May 22.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that the first of 14 defence motions presented at the court session was a motion filed by Violetta Volkova, the Moscow lawyer, representing the interests of Suren Gazaryan, to return the case to the prosecutor's office to correct the violations committed. In particular, according to Violetta Volkova, the indictment failed to individualize guilt of the accused men. Judge Avdji, who chaired the consideration of the case, dismissed 3 considered motions; the other 11 motions are to be considered at the next court session, which was appointed for 11:00 a.m. Moscow time, on May 22.

Suren Gazaryan told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the Judge adheres to the neutral position at the trial. The ecologist attributes that to the fact that several dozen people, supporting the defendants, arrived in Tuapse. Speaking about the results of the recent court session, Suren Gazaryan emphasized that they had filed almost all the same motions in the course of the investigation and that all that motions had been dismissed.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" has reported that, apart from the lawyers, Evgenia Chirikova, the leader of the "Movement to Defend Khimki Forest", and Nikolai Lyaskin, the activist of the movement "Solidarnost" (Solidarity), who came from Moscow on the other days on purpose, where admitted to the case as defenders of the defendants. They were admitted to the courtroom, in contrast to the rest of the audience: according to the legislation, the preliminary court hearing should be held behind closed doors.

During the court session, Evgenia Chirikova and Nikolai Lyaskin tried to transmit the trial through "Twitter". However, after the first one-hour break in the court hearing, the Judge forbade the defenders to transmit the process.

After the end of the court session, Evgenia Chirikova stated that during the trial, it was revealed that in the case materials "there was a substitution of the decision to institute the criminal case." According to her, the substitution was committed by the investigator. Meanwhile, the representative of the public prosecution in the court denied presence of serious violations in the case. After that, Nikolai Lyaskin published in "Twitter" "a top saying" of the public prosecutor: "No fraud had been committed, so, some documents in the case had been changed, and that's okay."