2 criminal cases against opposition activist Razvozzhayev merged - Investigative Committee
MOSCOW. Nov 29 (Interfax) - Criminal cases dealing with an armed attack and preparations for mass disturbances against opposition activist Leonid Razvozzhayev have been combined into one, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
"A decision has been made to combine into one two criminal cases in which Leonid Razvozzhayev is figuring. The matter involves an armed attack on a businessman in Angarsk in 1997 and preparations for mass disturbances in Moscow and other regions of Russia," Markin told Interfax on Thursday.
He said the decision was based on Russian Criminal Procedure Code Article 153, which stipulates that criminal cases dealing with crimes supposedly committed by the same person can be combined into one.
A criminal case against Razvozzhayev, who is an aide to State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, Left Front coordinator Sergei Udaltsov and his aide Konstantin Lebedev was opened on October 17.
The three have been charged with preparing mass disturbances, a crime covered by Criminal Code Articles 30 and 212, based on the documentary film Anatomy of Protest 2 shown by NTV on October 5.
Udaltsov's and Lebedev's apartments were searched, after which they were summoned for questioning to the Investigative Committee. Lebedev was detained and indicted and then arrested at least until December 16, while Udaltsov was allowed to remain free with travel restrictions. As for Razvozzhayev, he was not found immediately and was declared federally wanted.
Razvozzhayev's detention was reported on October 22. The Investigative Committee claimed that he had voluntarily turned himself in and confessed to what he had been charged with.
Razvozzhayev himself managed to tell human rights defenders that he had been abducted in Kyiv while seeking political asylum, tortured until he made a confession and brought to Moscow. The Basmanny Court ordered his arrest.
The Investigative Committee said Razvozzhayev did not officially declare that he had been tortured. At the same time, the committee said it would look into the allegations, including media reports, that Razvozzhayev could have been tortured.
Lawyer Mark Feigin, who visited Razvozzhayev at the Lefortovo detention facility, told Interfax on October 25 that his client had retracted his confessions as those made under pressure.
Markin told Interfax later that Razvozzhayev had also been charged with an armed attack on a businessman in Angarsk 15 years ago.
The investigation claims that Razvozzhayev and several of his accomplices broke into the businessman's apartment and, threatening him with a rifle and two pistols, stole a video camera and 500 fur hats, worth in aggregate 95 million non-denominated rubles, on December 4, 1997.