Court refuses to return Cheldiev’s case to prosecutor’s office

Today, the Rostov Regional Court has found the absence of a motive in a case against Ossetian opera singer Vadim Cheldiev as insufficient grounds to suspend the trial.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that opera singer Vadim Cheldiev has been under arrest since April 2020. At a court hearing on October 27, Vadim Cheldiev refused to plead guilty of organizing the riots in Vladikavkaz.

Then, on October 27, the defence requested the court to return the case to the prosecutor’s office because investigators did not mention the motive for the crime, while a justified motive is a prerequisite for cases on extremism.

During the today’s court session in Rostov-on-Don, the defence has been refused in returning the criminal case to the prosecutor’s office, the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent has been informed by Batraz Kulchiev, an advocate of Vadim Cheldiev. According to the advocate, a public prosecutor “generally agreed that no motive had been mentioned, but suggested that fact was not a basis for returning the case to the prosecutor’s office.”

Let us remind you that on April 20, 2020, law enforcers dispersed from Freedom Square in Vladikavkaz a protest action held by opponents of the self-isolation regime, who demanded the resignation of the government, the parliament, and the leader of North Ossetia. According to the investigators’ information, 13 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and the National Guard of Russia were injured at the spontaneous rally.

Vadim Cheldiev, who did not participate in the protest action, was included in the list of extremists compiled by the “Rosfinmonitoring” (the Russian Federal Service for Financial Monitoring). He was charged under four articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation at once, including the articles on organizing mass riots, publicly disseminating fake information about circumstances posing a threat to the life and safety of citizens, public calls for extremist activities using the Internet, and the use of violence against a public officer not dangerous to life or health.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 28, 2021 at 02:40 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.