Source: HRO.org (info) 

• Moscow city & Moscow region  Right of assembly  Access to justice  European Court of Human Rights  Persecution of activists

Vladimir Akimenkov and Yaroslav Belousov, who are accused of taking part in riots on Bolotnaya Square, have taken their case to the European Court for Human Rights, their lawyer, Dmitry Agranovsky, posted on Twitter. 

Polit.ru reports that according to the lawyer the appeal was submitted on the basis of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, forbidding torture, and Article 5, guaranteeing liberty and personal immunity. He stressed that the appeal concerns the holding of Akimenkov and Belousov in pre-trial detention, as well as the arrest itself, and the extended period of their detention. 

18 people have been charged in connection with the alleged rioting on Bolotnaya Square on 6th May. Two of them, Artem Savelov and Andrei Barabanov, have launched an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. 

On 9th November Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky district court sentenced Maksim Luzyanin, a suspect in this very case who agreed to a plea bargain and pleaded guilty, to four and a half years’ imprisonment. 

Moreover, the Zamoskvoretsky court will consider the case of Mikhail Kosenko, a person with disabilities (in the Russian classification “Group 2”), on 23 January. The court might rule that Kosenko be sent for enforced treatment in a psychiatric hospital. The court hearing will take place on 23rd January. 

In all, several tens of thousands took part in the “March of Millions” on 6th May. The march was supposed to go from October Square, to Bolotnaya Square. However, on the approach to Bolotnaya Square, the police closed off the road, leaving only a narrow passage. Those organising the rally announced a sit-down protest, after which clashes with the police began. During the clashes, about 30 police were injured.