In Tuapse, preliminary hearings in case against ecologists Suren Gazaryan and Evgeny Vitishko completed

On May 22, in Tuapse, preliminary hearings in the criminal case against Suren Gazaryan and Evgeny Vitishko, members of the Board of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" and the "Yabloko" Party, accused of damaging a fence around the alleged summer cottage of Alexander Tkachov, Governor of the Krasnodar Territory, were completed. The court dismissed most part of the defence's motions.

On that day, about 20 activists, supporting Suren Gazaryan and Evgeny Vitishko, gathered in front of the courthouse. Prior to the court session, the activists held a series of single pickets in support of the ecologists. In accordance with the legislation, the very preliminary hearing was held behind closed doors, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

3 out of 15 defence's motions granted

At the beginning of the trial, Evgeny Pilipenko, Deputy Tuapse Inter-District Prosecutor, asked the court to dismiss all defence's motions, except for calling Chief Accountant of the Limited Liability Company (LLC) "Capitel-2". Out of 15 motions filed by the defenders, the court granted only two motions, and one more motion was granted in part.

Judge Galina Avdji refused to consider the opinion of expert-appraiser, presented by the defenders, according to which the inscription on the fence inflicted damage amounting to 865 roubles (while the defendants are accused of inflicting damage amounting to more than 119,000 roubles). The court also refused to consider the opinion of experts from the non-commercial partnership "Prozrachny Mir" (Transparent World), who stated that the damaged fence located outside the land plot provided to the lease to the Closed Joint-Stock Company (CJSC) "Agrocomplex" (the largest agricultural holding in the Krasnodar Territory, established by brothers Alexander and Alexei Tkachov; Nikolai Tkachov, the 86-year-old father of Alexander Tkachov, Governor of the Krasnodar Territory, is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the CJSC "Agrocomplex", note of the "Caucasian Knot").

"The presented opinions cannot have evidentiary value, since they were not obtained in accordance with the requirements of the Criminal and Procedural Code of the Russian Federation," states the court's decision.

According to lawyer Marina Dubrovina, who represents interests of the defendant Evgeny Vitishko, by initiative of the Interregional Human Rights Association "Agora", the court granted motions for calling only two witnesses out of five, claimed by the defenders.

Furthermore, the lawyer reported that the court dismissed calling for documents, which the defenders planned to present as evidence that the action conducted by the ecologists on November 13, 2011, was caused by the fact that trees enlisted in the Red Book were cut down at that place.

The defendant Suren Gazaryan himself believes that the verdict in the case of damage to the fence will definitely represent conviction. According to him, the prosecutor and the judge "have a clear order for a conviction", and "signals from above" and public opinion will only govern the fact whether the indictment will present a conditional sentence or a real deprivation of freedom.