Complaint of rights defender Nagavkin against verdict in theft case sent for revision

The Court of Cassation in the Krasnodar Territory has overturned the ruling of the Volgograd Regional Court, which upheld the verdict of human rights defender Igor Nagavkin in the theft case. It was again sent for consideration to the appellate instance. Nagavkin hopes to have the sentence overturned, his sister has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in 2016, Igor Nagavkin, an expert of the all-Russian movement "For Human Rights"* in the Southern Federal District (SFD), was arrested in connection with the theft of jewellery from a pawnshop. On April 18, 2023, the court sentenced him to six years of freedom deprivation. The regional court reduced his prison term by two months. On November 22, 2023, Nagavkin announced constant threats from the bosses of the SIZO (pre-trial prison).

Nagavkin has received a cassation ruling, which overturns the decision of the appellate court in the theft case, his sister Natalia Shishlina has explained. According to her story, the cassation ruling had an "inspiring" effect on Igor.

In his arguments, Nagavkin stated that the court's conclusions in the verdict failed to correspond to the actual circumstances of the case; there was no proof of his guilt; and his right to defence was violated. The nature and extent of the harm caused by the crime to the victims were not proven; and "the materials of the operative investigating actions that formed the indictment basis were falsified." The court had also "unreasonably disregarded" Nagavkin's alibi, which was confirmed at the trial by two witnesses.

"It has been proven by the cassation court that the judge of the Bykovsky District Court and the panel of appellate judges made defects in their work ... For example, they failed to pay any attention to the obvious falsification in the operative investigating work in the Nagavkin's case," Sergey Ivaschenko, a lawyer, has noted.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.