14 September 2007, 18:49
Court acquits the Russian accused of disorders in Tallinn
For the first time ever, the Estonian Court, having agreed with the defence arguments, has acquitted the Russian who was detained and accused of participating in disorders in Tallinn after dismantling the Bronze Soldier this April, the "Gazeta.Ru" reports.
Maksim Melyakov, a permanent resident of Estonia and a citizen of Russia, was detained during the mass excitements in Tallinn and was thereafter kept under arrest for 22 days.
Alexander Kustov, Mr Melyakov's advocate from the "Marcus" Legal Bureau, has managed to convince the court that the stay of people in the epicentre of disorders did not mean, however, their participation in them.
"The arguments of the accusation, which demanded for Maksim Melyakov, 20, a recent graduate of a technical school and a newly hired employee, a real punishment of 11 months of imprisonment," defender Alexander Kustov believes, "had enough 'weight' only for an episode, in which any passer-by walking in the centre of the capital of Estonia could have found him- or herself at that moment."
Representatives of Russian-speaking organizations of Estonia assert that the decision passed by the court dispels the myth supported by the country's authorities that the disorders had been devised well in advance by "Kremlin proteges."
