You're reading: Kremlin to give no comments on Razvozzhayev case

 

 Novo-Ogaryovo, October 24 (Interfax) – The Kremlin is not commenting on the case involving opposition activist Leonid Razvozzhayev, Russian presidential press officer Dmitry Peskov has said.

“It’s unlikely a case that can or should be commented on by the Kremlin. It’s a case involving investigative bodies, prosecutors, judges, defense lawyers, and human rights activists,” Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

On October 17, the Investigations Committee opened a criminal case against Left Front coordinator Sergei Udaltsov, his assistant Konstantin Lebedev, and Leonid Razvozzhayev, an assistant to State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, accusing them of preparing mass riots (a crime under Articles 30 and 212 of the Russian Criminal Code). The criminal case was opened on the basis of a probe into information in a documentary entitled Anatomy of Protest-2, which aired on NTV television on October 5.

On the same day, Udaltsov and Lebedev were summoned to the Investigations Committee as suspects and their residences were searched. Lebedev was detained for 48 hours and Udaltsov was released after giving a written promise not to leave Moscow. The Moscow Basmanny Court later arrested Lebedev until December 16. The investigators were not able to find Razvozzhayev.

On October 19, a federal search warrant was issued for Razvozzhayev. On October 21, State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomaryov said his assistant had been detained in Kyiv, where he had asked for political asylum, and was taken to Moscow.

The Investigations Committee said Razvozzhayev has turned himself in to the Main Investigations Department of the Investigations Committee and “gave a detailed account of the circumstances surrounding the preparations by him, Left Front coordinator Sergei Udaltsov, and other people for the organization of mass riots on the territory of Russia and the involvement of those persons in the mass riots that occurred on Bolotnaya Square on May 6.”

According to earlier reports, Udaltsov was summoned to come to the Investigations Committee on October 26 to be charged in the criminal case involving preparations for the organization of mass riots.

In the meantime, human rights activists believe Razvozzhayev was forced to testify against opposition leaders Sergei Udaltsov and Alexei Navalny

“[Razvozzhayev] believes that he was asked questions to which he was expected to give answers compromising Navalny and Udaltsov,” Lidiya Dubikova, a member of the Public Observer Commission, told a press conference at the Interfax central office on Wednesday.

Zoya Svetova, secretary of the Public Observer Commission, said Razvozzhayev has tried to retract his testimony against Udaltsov and Navalny.

“He told us everything he said in his statement when he turned himself in to the police is not true,” Svetova said.