ECHR registers 1st appeal in New Greatness case
MOSCOW. Jan 28 (Interfax) - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has registered the first appeal in the case of extremism against a New Greatness member, Svetlana Sidornkina, a lawyer for one of the defendants in the case, told Interfax on Monday.
"We believe that Ruslan Kostylenkov's rights to liberty and security (Article 5) and to freedom of expression (Article 10) as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights were violated," the lawyer said.
In its appeal, the defense team drew the ECHR's attention to the fact that the court had sanctioned Kostylenkov's arrest without substantiated suspicions, she said. According to the defense team, Kostylenkov's actions were not offensive and did not call for violent and illegal acts.
On March 16, 2018, Moscow's Dorogomilovsky District Court remanded six New Greatness activists in custody, including 18-year-old Anna Pavlikova and 19-year-old Maria Dubovik. Another four suspects were placed under house arrest.
On August 16, the court put Pavlikova and Dubovik under house arrest at investigators' request. However, Dmitry Poletayev, Vyacheslav Kryukov, Pyotr Karamzin, and Kostylenkov are still in custody.
Investigators accused the defendants of seeking to overthrow Russia's constitutional system and set up an interim government. Their defense team said that the charges are based on testimony given by a law enforcement official who infiltrated the group. The suspects were charged with setting up an extremist community and participating in it.