Opinions of rights defenders on Bogatenkova's actions differ

Valentina Melnikova, the secretary of the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia, has stated that there were violations in the work of human rights activist Lyudmila Bogatenkova, who has been sentenced today. On the other hand, Sergey Krivenko, a member of the Russian Presidential Council on Human Rights, asserts that not a single fact confirming Bogatenkova's guilt was proved at the trial.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Budyonnovsk City Court acquitted Bogatenkova on one of the episodes of her fraud case, re-qualified the other episode and applied the amnesty act to her.

As explained by Valentina Melnikova, the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia had been working with the organization "Prikumye Mothers", headed by Bogatenkova, since 1995, and stopped the cooperation in 2009, after the union "received a letter from servicemen with complaints against Bogatenkova."

Rights defenders should not take money from people, whose interests they defend, Ms Melnikova has stressed.

The persecution of Bogatenkova was preceded by an investigation into the deaths of Russian soldiers during the warfare in Ukraine.

Earlier, the belief that the case against Bogatenkova had been fabricated was expressed by Lydia Sviridova, the head of the Saratov branch of "Soldiers' Mothers".

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