Title: NO MERCY FOR ANARCHISTS IN KRASNODAR - COURT ANNOUNCES PRISON SENTENCE,
REFUSES AMNESTY
Author:
This mail was sent to http://ungdomshuset.punk-ska.com by Gateavisa, a Norwegian anarchist paper
On July 20 Pervomaysky district court in Krasnodar, South Russia, finally made a ruling concerning the case of anarchists arrested several month ago. The prison sentence for two anarchists was unexpectedly harsh, especially because one of them, a woman 8 month pregnant now, is subject to amnesty which is valid until the end of the year.
By the end of the investigation (end of May) the situation for the three arrested people - Maria Randina, Larisa Schiptsova and Gennady Nepshikuyev - seemed to be improving. Charges against Maria Randina were dropped and she became a witness, not an accused in this case. All of the three arrested were freed from prison until the court hearings.
The investigators failed to present charges of establishing a criminal group and terrorism, it was obvious that the "case" is likely to beruined in court due to lack of evidence other than Nepshikuyev's statements. Larisa Schiptsova and Gennady Nepshikuyev were facing charges of possession and transportation of explosives, Schiptsova was also charged with possession of cannabis.
At the same time all pledges to free Schiptsova from FSB (ex-KGB) prison were ignored, in spite of the fact that she is now 8 months pregnant. Her lawyer, Stanislav Markelov, attracted too much interest from the FSB - he was illegally spied on (and tapes were incorporated into the materials of the investigation - rather normal violation of the law, by Russian standards). On June 28 he was also interrogated in Moscow by FSB officers concerning the bombing of FSB offices in April this year.
On July 12 the court hearings started in Krasnodar. The prosecutor asked for 6 years of imprisonment for Schiptsova and 7 years for Nepshikuyev, but the lawyers of the accused were hoping to get a softer sentence and get amnesty for Larisa due to her pregnancy. The court failed to listen to all of the witnesses, while the main witness- Maria Randina -retrieved her earlier testimonies and denied that it was Larisa who gave her the explosive device.
The court took a break on July 14 only to hear Larisa's last statement and announce its verdict on July 20. Pledges for amnesty were refused by the court, contrary to the regulations of the amnesty bill, which is valid until December this year.
On July 20 the court announced its ruling - 4 years of imprisonment in a prison camp for Larisa Schiptsova and 3 years for Gennady Nepshikuyev, no amnesty or postponement of the sentence is provided. Lawyers plan to make an appeal against the ruling of the court in the next few days, meanwhile a press conference is being organized.
The prison sentence for Schiptsova and Nepshikuyev was announced the same day a notorious Russian journalist Grigory Pasko was freed from KGB prison in Vladivostok, Far East. The two cases were very similar in some respects, namely the fact that the KGB was trying to charge the accused with serious crimes ("terrorism" in case of the Krasnodar 3,"betrayal of the country" in case of Pasko - for reporting information on nuclear waste in the Russian Pacific Navy), but failed to present these charges in court.
Nevertheless, once captured and imprisoned, the accused didn't have a chance for being acquitted - KGB and the procurator's office never admit "mistakes" and instead present weaker charges and a softer sentence.
Pasko was charged with violations of his responsibilities, sentenced to 3 years, amnestied and freed. He also had the fortune of having public opinion on his side and extensive media coverage. The anarchists arrested in Krasnodar made it to newspapers and TV programs to a much lesser extent and mainly at the time of the opening of the trial.
Not a single nationwide paper reported the court ruling the next day after it was pronounced (July 21), that means that the people campaigning on their behalf should put an extra effort into making the public know about the unjust prison sentence.
It is urgent that another wave of letters of protest floods the offices of the bureaucrats and executioners. Please, send letters of protest to:
Krasnodar regional procurator A.N.Shkrebets
Fax (7-8612) 68-30-95
Krasnodar governor Nikolai I.Kondratenko
Fax (7-8612) 68-35-82, 68-45-38
Tel (7-8612) 62-57-16>Mail to: 350014, Russia, Krasnodar, ul.Krasnaya, d.35
E-mail:admkuban@m400.krasnodar.ru
You can also protest outside Russian consulates in your countries to let the official Russian authorities know that the prosecution of anarchists in Krasnodar will not be unnoticed.
Background information on Krasnodar case in Russian, English and German available at
Moscow group for counter-action against political repression can be contacted at: