14 Oct 2019 16:23

Six people who used violence identified in investigation into July Moscow riots case - Investigative Committee

MOSCOW. Oct 14 (Interfax) - Investigators working on the case concerning the summer riots in Moscow have identified another six people suspected of having used violence against police officers and Russian National Guard officers, Russian Investigative Committee official Svetlana Petrenko said.

"Six people whose actions are indicative of a crime described in Part 1 of Article 318 of the Russian Criminal Code (use of violence against a representative of the authorities) have been identified during the Investigative Committee's probe into the criminal case involving the July riots and the use of violence against authorities," Petrenko told Interfax on Monday.

According to her, "Yegor Lesnykh and Maxim Martintsov, acting in a group of people, attacked a Russian Guard officer and knocked him down, and Lesnykh kicked another law enforcement officer" in Moscow's Rozhdestvenka Street on July 27.

"Another suspect, Andrei Barshai, attacked a Russian Guard officer, pushing him in the back after a run-up. The investigators have also determined illegal actions by Vladimir Yemelyanov against a Russian Guard officer, whom the man held by force, preventing him from doing his job," Petrenko said.

The illegal actions by these persons are confirmed by witnesses' accounts and videos from the scene, she said.

"Barshai, Yemelyanov, Lesnykh, and Martintsov have now been detained as suspects. Their residences have been searched. At the same time, the two other identified persons hid after learning about the investigative actions," Petrenko said.

All of the detainees will be charged in the near future and then the investigators intend to file a motion seeking a measure of restraint for them, she said.

Pravozashchita Otkrytki coordinator Valentina Dekhtyarenko told Interfax earlier on Monday that Investigative Committee officials had searched the apartment of Danny Kulinich, a participant in the public project Decommunization, on Monday morning and he was later detained and is a suspect in the "Moscow case" involving the July 27 riots.

The human rights activist also said, citing OVD Info, that Andrei Barshai, a participant in the July 27 unauthorized rally in support of independent candidates to the Moscow City Duma, had been detained after the search.

According to information from social networking sites, the residences of Yemelyanov, Martintsev, and Lesnykh have been searched in connection with the Moscow case.