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Bolotnaya trial: man sentenced to indefinite psychiatric treatment
Source: The Guardian
Bolotnaya trial: man sentenced to indefinite psychiatric treatment
Shaun Walker in Moscow
The Guardian, Tuesday 8 October 2013 17.29 BST
A Moscow court sentenced a 37-year-old man to an indefinite term of forced psychiatric treatment on Tuesday in a case that rights activists say was fabricated and part of a crackdown on the street protest movement that has emerged in the past two years.
Mikhail Kosenko was one of 28 people arrested after clashes during a rally in central Moscow last year, the day before Vladimir Putin was inaugurated for a new presidential term. Although police officers were injured, the court heard that Kosenko was not involved in the violence.
The conviction for "calling for mass riots" came despite video footage showing Kosenko as a bystander to scuffles between police and protesters. Additionally, the officer named as the victim in the case, Alexander Kazmin, refused to identify Kosenko as the person who attacked him. "I do not know this person," he told the court during a hearing over the summer.
The trials of those arrested over the scuffles on 6 May 2012 have become known as the Bolotnaya affair, after the square in which the clashes took place. Late last year, Maxim Luzyanin was jailed for four-and-a-half years for his part in the protest, while a further 26 people face sentences of up to 13 years if convicted of taking part in, or provoking, mass disturbances.
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Shaun Walker in Moscow
The Guardian, Tuesday 8 October 2013 17.29 BST
A Moscow court sentenced a 37-year-old man to an indefinite term of forced psychiatric treatment on Tuesday in a case that rights activists say was fabricated and part of a crackdown on the street protest movement that has emerged in the past two years.
Mikhail Kosenko was one of 28 people arrested after clashes during a rally in central Moscow last year, the day before Vladimir Putin was inaugurated for a new presidential term. Although police officers were injured, the court heard that Kosenko was not involved in the violence.
The conviction for "calling for mass riots" came despite video footage showing Kosenko as a bystander to scuffles between police and protesters. Additionally, the officer named as the victim in the case, Alexander Kazmin, refused to identify Kosenko as the person who attacked him. "I do not know this person," he told the court during a hearing over the summer.
The trials of those arrested over the scuffles on 6 May 2012 have become known as the Bolotnaya affair, after the square in which the clashes took place. Late last year, Maxim Luzyanin was jailed for four-and-a-half years for his part in the protest, while a further 26 people face sentences of up to 13 years if convicted of taking part in, or provoking, mass disturbances.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/08/bolotnaya-trial-moscow-man-sentenced-psychiatric-treatment
