The Bolotnaya Square case is a criminal case by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation on account of alleged mass riots (article 212 of the Russian Criminal code) and alleged violence against the police (article 318 of the Russian Criminal code) during the "March of the Millions" on May 6, 2012 at the Bolotnaya Square in Moscow. The demonstration was one of the biggest protests in Russia since the 1990s. By the number of accused, 37 persons, it is currently the largest criminal case against participants of public demonstrations in modern Russia.
The Bolotnaya Square case is largely recognized as politically motivated both internationally and in Russia. The Russian Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin has repeatedly stated that "there were no riots in Bolotnaya Square". The Memorial Human Rights Centre recognized the case as politically motivated. The European Court of Human Rights issued numerous verdicts wherein it ruled that in the Bolotnaya Square case Russia violated European Convention on Human Rights. The European Parliament issued resolutions 2013/2667(RSP) of June 13, 2013 and resolution 2014/2628(RSP) of March 13, 2014 on the political nature of the Bolotnaya Square case. Amnesty International recognised the defendants in the case as prisoners of conscience.
Overall, 37 people were officially accused, most of them were men and five were women. The majority of them were kept under arrest, several under house arrest, and one escaped abroad.
Fearing persecution, several other people, who had not yet been officially accused, left Russia and have been granted asylum in Estonia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain and Sweden,Alexei Sakhnin and Philip Galtsov receive political asylum in Sweden, (30 July 2013)Report: Russian Gay-Rights Activist Granted Spanish Asylum, (30 July 2013) while Aleksandr Dolmatov committed suicide in the Netherlands detention centre after his political asylum application was turned down.
The case also included a crackdown against the Russian opposition leaders. Houses of Alexei Navalny, Sergey Udaltsov, Kseniya Sobchak, Boris Nemtsov, Ilya Yashin and Pyotr Verzilov were searched.Russian anti-Putin activist 'admits riot plot'. Russian investigators say a detained anti-Kremlin activist has admitted trying to foment riots with funding from a Georgian MP.. Garry Kasparov and Sergey Guriyev left Russia in 2013.
The supporters of the arrested created the May 6 Committee, an independent organization set up to conduct its own investigation and defend those charged in connection with the rally. Dozens of prominent musicians and artists publicly supported the prisoners of the Bolotnaya Square case, among them Anti-Flag, Ken Loach, Yuri Shevchuk, Noize MC, Boris Akunin, Dmitry Spirin.
On December 19, 2013 a large-scale amnesty was declared in Russia to mark the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution. The amnesty was granted to some 13 defendants in the Bolotnaya Square case, alongside the accused in the two other high-profile political cases, the Pussy Riot group and Greenpeace activists who blocked the Prirazlomnaya oil platform in the Pechora Sea. In 2014, the remaining defendants in the Bolotnaya Square case who did not fall under the amnesty received prison sentences varying from 2.5 to 4.5 years. By the end of 2018, all of them were released after having served their sentence.
After the trial was finished, the prosecution attempted new arrests and charges. In December 2016, a new accused, Dmitry Buchenkov, was detained. He was later put under house arrest, fled Russia and was granted asylum in Lithuania in June 2018. In July 2018, the Russian Ministry of Interior filed lawsuit against several defendants in the Bolotnaya case for the loss by the police of rubber sticks and radio stations. The court ruled to refuse to satisfy the claim.
The statute of limitations for the Bolotnaya Square case expired on 6 May 2022. The accused The accused include more than thirty participants of the demonstration.
Vladimir Akimenkov Born in 1987. An activist with the "Left Front" organization. He was taken into custody on June 10, 2012, and held in pre-detention prison No. 5 in Moscow. He faced charges of participating in mass riots (article 212 of the Russian Criminal Code) which carries a sentence of up to eight years in prison.Vladimir Akimenkov , 6 May Committee . He was accused of throwing a flag pole at a policeman. The only piece of evidence for the indictment was testimony provided by Special Unit policeman Egorov, the only witness.
Akimenkov suffers from serious inborn eye diseases such as severe myopia, partial atrophy of the eye nerve and coloboma of the iris. In prison his eyesight seriously deteriorated. In September 3,500 people signed a petition demanding his hospitalization. He was transferred to the prison hospital. The doctors described his condition as satisfactory. On October 29 in court Vladimir insisted that his eyesight was getting even weaker.
Different civic activists organized numerous actions in support of Vladimir Akimenkov. In court on November 26, his lawyer Dmitry Agranovsky presented letters, offering to put up bail for Akimenkov, from the Parliament member Ilya Ponomarev, the human rights activist Lev Ponomarev, the writer Ludmila Ulitskaya and the human rights activist Ludmila Alekseeva.
On May 16, 2013, Akimenkov's custody extension was annulled by the Moscow City Court and he was to be freed on June 10. However, on June 6, as preliminary hearings began, all the defendants were remanded again until November 24th.Longer in jail for Bolotnaya Anti-Putin protesters Akimenkov was amnestied in December 2013.
Oleg Arhipenkov Born in 1985. A commercial manager of a travel agency. He was detained on May 6, 2012, on the Teatralnaya rather than on the Bolotnaya square which is indicated in the court papers. On June 10 he was arrested for allegedly participating in the mass riots (article 212 of the Russian Criminal Code), facing up to eight years in prison. On August 9 he was released under recognizance not to leave the city, but was not cleared of charges.Oleg Arkhipenkov , 6 May Committee. He was amnestied in December 2013.
Fyodor Bakhov Born in 1981. A chemical scientist. Arrested on June 10, 2012. He was accused of participating in mass riots (paragraph 2, article 212 of the Russian Criminal Code), facing up to eight years in prison. By the advice of the court-appointed lawyer he wrote a letter of confession and was immediately arrested for two months. After seeing a lawyer hired by the human rights organizations he rapidly denounced his previous confession. He spent five months in the pretrial detention prison and was released under pledge not to leave the city on November 6. The charges remained in place.Fedor Bakhov , 6 May Committee. He was amnestied in December 2013.
Andrey Barabanov Born in 1990, an artist. Arrested on June 28, 2012, he was kept in the pre-trial detention prison No. 2. He was accused of participating in a mass riot (article 212 of the Russian Criminal Code) and using force against a representative of the authorities (article 318 of the Russian Criminal Code). He faced up to thirteen years in prison. He was accused of kicking a Special Unit policeman (Kruglov) with his foot. He pleaded guilty to violating the article 318 but not guilty to violating the article 212, stating that there had not been any mass riots on the Bolotnaya square.
At his court session on December 3, his lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina said that Andrey Barabanov had sent a letter of apology to the injured party (Kruglov), who had accepted his apology and agreed to settle the case by the reconciliation of the parties.
Andrey Barabanov was remanded until November 24, 2013.Andrei Barabanov , 6 May Committee. He was sentenced to 3 years and 7 months in prison.
Maria Baronova
Born in 1984. An activist of the "Party of December 5th". On June 21, 2012, she was accused of calling for mass riots (paragraph 3, article 212 of the Russian Criminal Code). The accusation was based on a videotape that showed Maria allegedly quarreling with a policeman. She was later placed under pledge not to leave the city.Maria Baronova , 6 May Committee. Baronova was amnestied in December 2013.
Yaroslav Belousov Born in 1991. A student of the Moscow State university, married, with a little son. Arrested on June 9, 2012, he was kept in the pretrial detention prison No. 5 in Moscow. He was accused of participating in mass riots (paragraph 2, article 212 of the Russian Criminal Code) and of using force against a representative of the authorities (paragraph 1, article 318 of the Russian Criminal Code). He faced up to thirteen years in prison. He was accused of throwing a billiard ball at a Special Unit policeman. This indictment was founded upon testimony provided by the injured party (Filippov). The State Duma member Tetekhin and around ten municipal deputies in Moscow wrote guarantees for Yaroslav Belousov. Belousov's family offered to put up bail.Arrest extension validated for Moscow riot participants, RAPSI NEWS.
Yaroslav Belousov was remanded until November 24, 2013. He was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison.
Dmitry Buchenkov On December 2, 2016, Dmitry Buchenkov, who claims he was not in Moscow on the day of the demonstration, was detained. He was released from jail and put under house arrest in 2017. He then secretly fled Russia and was granted asylum in Lithuania in June 2018. In December 2019, the prosecution in Russia demanded an 8-year term in jail for Buchenkov. He was sentenced to 2 years and 5 months in prison. He currently lives in exile.
Alexandra Dukhanina Born in 1993. A student at the Moscow State university School of Translation and Interpretation, specializing in German. She was detained on May 27 and was placed under house arrest. She was accused of participating in mass riots (paragraph 2, article 212 of the Russian Criminal Code) and using force against a representative of the authorities (paragraph 1, article 318 of the Russian Criminal Code). She faced up to thirteen years in prison. She was accused of throwing pieces of asphalt at the Special Unit policemen. An injured party suffered skin reddening and physical pain. Alexandra Dukhanina was placed under house arrest until November 24, 2013. She was sentenced to 3 years and 3 months of suspended sentence.
Aleksey Gaskarov Born in 1985, a prominent anti-fascist activist. In 2010 he was arrested and charged with assaulting the mayor of the town of Khimki, but cleared of all charges. Arrested on April 28, 2013 following his participation in the demonstrations on May 6, 2012. He was remanded until October 6. He was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison.
Ilya Guschin Born in 1988. An activist of the National Democratic Party. Arrested on February 6. The Investigative Committee of Russia claimed Ilya Guschin had grabbed a police officer by his uniform, trying to prevent the arrest of another protester.
In his testimony Ilya, confessed to having offered resistance to the police forces as he stood in a live chain along with other protesters. "They said that the rally had been cancelled, and I could not understand why. The police forces starting beating people, and I attempted to defend one man whom they attacked. I grabbed a police officer by his helmet, wanted to prevent him from hurting that man, I felt like this was my duty to try to do something. I tried to pull the policeman back, I realized that I could possibly hurt him and I did not want this, but the officer turned around and raised his truncheon at me. I disappeared into the crowd. I had done nothing more that could have been illegal or criminal", Ilya is quoted as saying.