Site Archive‎ > ‎Freedom of assembly‎ > ‎May 2012‎ > ‎Investigation‎ > ‎

Police report on 6 May 2012 events at Bolotnaya Square published

10 April 2013 


Source: HRO.org (info)
A document entitled ‘Report on the results of actions to maintain public order and security in the city of Moscow on 6 May’ has been published on the Internet. The four-page report has been posted on the website of the New Times journal. The document states that the Moscow police implemented their task of maintaining public order ‘in full’ and did not allow an ‘emergency situation’ to develop.

Lenta.ru notes that the report was signed by the deputy head of the Moscow city police Dmitry Deinichenko (he now heads the Special Purpose Centre of the Moscow police).

On 6 May 2012 in Moscow there were clashes between participants in the March of Millions and the police. The document states that participants in the March of Millions made attempts to ‘break through’ the police cordon, and also threw various objects at police officers. The report says the police detained those ‘most active in refusing to follow the lawful demands of police officers’. According to the report, a total of 656 people were detained.

Member of the Presidential Human Rights Council Nikolai Svanidze described the report as a ‘very serious document’. ‘The formulation of the charges made by a very highly placed police official contradicts the charges which have been brought by the Investigative Committee against the accused in connection with the events of 6 May. After all, they stand accused of serious violations of public order. Moreover the report says that the police succeeded in preventing these violations. For this reason I think that this formulation will be a serious argument in favour of the defendants at the trials of those charged in connection with the events of 6 May,’ he said in conversation with ‘Ezhednevnyi zhurnal.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation believes that what happened on Bolotnaya Square on 6 May constituted 'mass disorders.' Those charged as a result of the ‘Bolotnaya investigation’, as a rule, are accused of taking part in mass disorders and of attacking police officers. About 30 people are to face trial in the case. On 8 April the Investigative Committee said the investigation is in its final stages. Investigators consider that the organizers of the clashes on Bolotnaya Square were opposition activists Konstantin Lebedev, Sergei Udaltsov, Leonid Razvozzhaev, and also the Georgian politician Givi Targamadze. Lebedev has pleaded guilty to the charges.
Comments