Shchepikhin's defense called the charges excessive

The lawyer for blogger Areg Shchepikhin, who was detained after being kidnapped by Chechen security forces at a Moscow train station, believes that the article on insulting religious feelings is excessive. The defense intends to seek its exclusion from the charges.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported, the participants in the kidnapping of blogger Areg Shchepikhin at the Yaroslavsky train station in Moscow, three of whom presented IDs of employees of the Russian Guard Directorate for Chechnya, were released on their own recognizance. The court arrested Shchepikhin himself for two months in a case of calls for extremism and incitement of hatred. On June 26, Shchepikhin apologized in court to residents of the Caucasus, stating that he repents, but the court refused to soften his preventive measure. The final indictment charges Shchepikhin with three criminal offenses1. Today, the court extended Shchepikhin's arrest for six months, until January 22.

Areg Shchepikhin's lawyer Andrei Bezverkhny told "Caucasian Knot" after the hearing that he considers the list of charges excessive. "What my client did is fully covered by Article 282, especially Article 280," the lawyer emphasized, noting that he will seek to achieve a mitigation of the blogger's punishment.

At the hearing, Shchepikhin himself stated that he does not admit guilt under the article on insulting the feelings of believers, but Judge Elena Abramova did not consider the issue, stating that the blogger would be able to express his opinion on the essence of the charges later. The hearing was devoted only to choosing a preventive measure - to postpone the trial in essence, the prosecutor's office representatives petitioned.

According to Shchepikhin, he was charged under the article on insulting the religious feelings of believers (Part 1 of Article 148 of the Criminal Code of Russia) “for an unpublished video,” although the elements of the crime under this article, according to the Criminal Code, are precisely “public actions.” The maximum punishment under this article is up to a year of imprisonment or forced labor.

About 15 journalists, including representatives of state news agencies, were present at the hearing on Shchepikhin's case. Shchepikhin himself was guarded by five police officers, one of whom had a service dog, a correspondent for the "Caucasian Knot" reported.

The "Caucasian Knot" also wrote that on July 9, Shchepikhin's data were entered into the register of terrorists and extremists of Rosfinmonitoring. Expertise found him sane.

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