Vadim Karastelev claims verdict to activists Gelendzhik HRC unprecedented

The materials of the case against human rights activists of the Gelendzhik Human Rights Centre (HRC) contain a lot of doubtful points, and the sentence is unreasonably tough. This was stated by Vadim Karastelev, an expert of the Moscow Helsinki Group. The investigation into the case can face provocations. This was noted by Tatiana Rudakova, a member of the Public Monitoring Commission (PMC) for the Krasnodar Territory.

Let us remind you that on August 13, the Krasnodar Regional Court upheld the sentence to four human rights activists from Gelendzhik, who on April 30 were sentenced on charges of extortion of money from local developers to 8-13 years of imprisonment in a high security penal colony.

Earlier, relatives and advocates of the defendants argued that the activists became victims of a provocation. They also claimed that the detainees were subjected to torture at a temporary detention facility. In February 2012, the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) started a preliminary inspection in connection with the above information; however, later, ICRF refused to institute a criminal case for lack of constituent elements of crime.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that initially, the Krasnodar Regional Court was to consider an appeal against the verdict of the Gelendzhik City Court on August 8. However, the court session was not held on the scheduled date, and the new date for the court session has not been announced to the public.