00:17, 26 December 2013

Several Russian cities host pickets in support of Krasnodar ecologist Evgeny Vitishko

The poster in support if Krasnodar ecologist Evgeny Vitishko. Photo: http://oleg-kozyrev.livejournal.com

On December 25, a number of Russian cities, including Novosibirsk, Moscow, Krasnodar, Sochi, and Voronezh, hosted actions rallies in support of Evgeny Vitishko, a Kuban activist and ecologist, who was sentenced in the case of the "Tkachov's summer cottage". Blogger Oleg Kozyrev has called on supporters of Evgeny Vitishko to write on the official website of the Russian President the calls in defence of the activist and to disseminate the information about the ecologist's case through the social networks.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the court found Evgeny Vitishko and Suren Gazaryan, the activists from the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" guilty of damaging the fence around the so-called "summer cottages of Alexander Tkachov, Kuban Governor". Both ecologists were sentenced to three years of conditional imprisonment. The Inspection of the Federal Penitentiary Service Department (known as UFSIN) demanded to change the conditional sentence for Evgeny Vitishko to the actual imprisonment and filed an appropriate appeal to the court. On December 20, the Tuapse Court cancelled the conditional sentence for Evgeny Vitishko and sentenced him to the actual imprisonment. The court's decision entailed protests of members of political parties and social and ecological organizations.

Author: Oleg Krasnov, Natalia Dorokhina

Source: CK correspondents