Volgograd Regional Court Agrees with Sentence of Ruslan Nurushev

The Volgograd Regional Court refused to overturn the sentence of Ruslan Nurushev, who was sentenced to six years in prison. The defense intends to file a cassation appeal.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel reported, on May 5, a court in Volgograd sentenced lawyer Ruslan Nurushev to six years in prison, finding him guilty of spreading fake news about the army. The defense filed an appeal, asking to acquit Nurushev. Activists raised funds to pay for Nurushev's lawyer in the appeal process.

Today, the Volgograd Regional Court considered Ruslan Nurushev's appeal against the verdict handed down by the Traktorozavodsky District Court of Volgograd. Lawyer Yulia Guseva and prosecutor's office representative Oleg Kabakov were present in the courtroom; Ruslan Nurushev took part in the trial via video link. Representatives of the interested parties - the Center for Combating Extremism of the Regional Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Forensic Science Center - did not appear in court.

During the court hearing, Ruslan Nurushev and his lawyer made additions to the appeals they had filed earlier, indicating the grounds for overturning the sentence: the court of first instance did not conduct the trial properly, and the principles of comprehensiveness and completeness of the study of the factual circumstances of the criminal case were not observed.

“The objective side of the crime, criminal liability for which is provided for by Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, consists of disseminating false information under the guise of reliable information. This element of the crime means that when disseminating knowingly false information, the perpetrator must present it as reliable, that is, truthful and verified, not subject to doubt. Nurushev posted only partial information from official sources on his page, without indicating the location of the warehouse, and expressed his opinion regarding the airstrike,” the lawyer claimed in the complaint.

She referred to Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, according to which a citizen is guaranteed freedom of thought and speech, as well as the right to freely seek, receive, transmit, produce and distribute information by any legal means. The defense emphasized that the Constitution of the Russian Federation also guarantees freedom of the media.

"The arrest and prosecution of the accused for peacefully expressing his opinion is illegal, as it contradicts Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, as well as Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted on 16.12.1966 by Resolution 2200 (XXI) at the 1496th plenary session of the UN General Assembly," the appeal says.

International law provides for "unimpeded expression of opinions during political discussions in a democratic society" and does not allow the adoption of laws prohibiting the dissemination of socially significant information about the activities of institutions such as the army or the administrative apparatus. International law also prohibits the prosecution of individuals for disseminating such information - these demands of the UN Human Rights Committee are listed in Nurushev's appeal.

"The fact that Nurushev did not post information on his page about the fact that there was a military warehouse in the hypermarket does not indicate that the statement was false, since he did not indicate in his message what exactly was in this warehouse. I believe that the court of first instance erroneously concluded that the statement was false due to Nurushev's failure to post all the information regarding the hypermarket," the lawyer claims in the appeal.

Guseva reminded the court that Ruslan Nurushev disputed the motive of political hatred and enmity imputed to him. In the trial court, the defendant and the defense stated the need to conduct not only a linguistic but also a comprehensive commission forensic psychological and linguistic examination, but the judge did not grant this motion, "thereby violating the right to adversarial proceedings in terms of the possibility of presenting evidence by the defense." Also, such a court decision contradicts the provisions of Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, "since the evidence presented could demonstrate the inconsistency of the prosecution's version."

In their speeches, Ruslan Nurushev and lawyer Yulia Guseva proposed that the panel of judges overturn the district court's decision and issue an acquittal. The prosecutor insisted that the verdict was objective and not subject to overturning.

"We briefly outlined the arguments reflected in the main and additional appeals, the prosecutor's office objected to all points. The judges deliberated for a long time, they changed the sentence, but not in terms of qualification and punishment. They excluded references to the results of operational-search activities and Ruslan's conversation with the detective about the motives from the reasoning part of the sentence. I am sure that this is inadmissible evidence, since Ruslan was actually interrogated: his rights were not explained to him, the lawyer was not present. Today the sentence comes into force. We will write a cassation appeal," Yulia Guseva told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The lawyer reported that Ruslan did not complain about his health. According to her, in the detention center "everyone treats him well, from those under arrest and convicted to the administration." Ruslan expressed to the lawyer his desire to remain in the general regime colony in Volzhsky, IK-12. He handed over a statement on this matter to the management of the detention center.

"It is too early to say which colony he will be transferred to. I plan to get the court orders, but it won't be for another three weeks. I plan to visit Ruslan later, because we will write a cassation appeal with him,” added Yulia Guseva.

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