Boris Stomakhin's defence demands to cancel sentence in case of justification of terror acts

The guilt of journalist Boris Stomakhin sentenced on charges of justification of the terror acts committed in Volgograd has not been proven by the court, and thus, the sentence is to be cancelled. This was stated by Svetlana Sidorkina, a defender of Boris Stomakhin. Prosecutors believe the available evidence is sufficient.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Boris Stomakhin was accused of public appeals to terrorism and public justification of the terror acts that were committed on December 29-30, 2014. On April 20, the court sentenced him to three years of imprisonment. In total, together with the sentence announced earlier, Boris Stomakhin was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment.

Following the consideration of the third case, the Moscow District Military Court has not found any incitement to commit new terror acts in the text, which, according to the investigators, was written by Boris Stomakhin. The examination has revealed only the presence of public justification of terrorism.

In his final speech, the defendant has stressed that he pleads not guilty.

The information and analytical "Sova" Centre called the sentence too severe.

"In fact, he has been punished just 'for words'. Meanwhile, the audience of the website, which published the journalist's article, was very small," the website of the "Sova" Centre notes.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.