Investigators ask court to arrest hospitalized TV director who is suspect in 'July 27 case'
MOSCOW. Aug 11 (Interfax) - Moscow's Basmanny District Court will consider on Sunday a motion from the Russian Investigative Committee that asks the court to arrest Dmitry Vasilyev, a suspect in the July 27 case, who is now in hospital.
"The court has received a motion from the investigator asking the court to select custody as a measure of restraint against Vasilyev," court spokesperson Yunona Tsaryova told Interfax on Sunday.
The suspect was not brought before a judge, she said.
It was reported earlier on Saturday that 43-year-old Vasilyev, a television director at the Doctor channel, had been detained in the mass riots case.
Later in the day, the Moscow Public Monitoring Commission told Interfax that Vasiklyev had been taken to hospital from a detention facility of the Moscow Northwestern Administrative Area police department. Vasilyev was admitted to the intensive care unit of City Clinical Hospital No 20 in a serious condition.
According to his attorney, Vasilyev suffers from Diabetes Mellitus and was hospitalized after a spike in his blood sugar level.
Public Monitoring Commission Executive Secretary Ivan Melnikov earlier asked Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkovaand and chairman of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights Mikhail Fedotov to step in and take measures to protect the rights of Vasilyev.
The Russian Investigative Committee said on July 30 that it had launched a criminal inquiry after the July 27 protests in downtown Moscow on suspicion of organizing, participating and calling for mass riots (Article 212 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
Investigators said: "In the run-up to the unsanctioned protest, a group of individuals several times published online content calling for participating in the protest, apparently assuming that in doing so, they might be provoking mass riots."
"Ignoring lawful demands from public authorities, participants in the unpermitted protest in Moscow grossly violated public order and used violence against persons in positions of authority, broke through cordons and stepped on carriageways, paralyzing road traffic along Garden Ring in central Moscow. They also committed other illegal acts," The Investigative Committee said.
Cases opened earlier on the counts of violence against law enforcement officers (Article 318) during the July 27 protest have been merged with the mass riots case.
Downtown Moscow saw an unsanctioned protest in support of unregistered Moscow Duma candidates throughout the day on July 27. More than 1,000 people were detained in connection with the protest. The Moscow City Duma election is due on September 8.
Twelve suspects in the case are currently under arrest.