01 July 2023, 02:39
PO demands tougher punishment for rights defender Igor Nagavkin
Igor Nagavkin, a human rights defender has stated numerous violations and falsifications at the trial of the theft of gold jewellery by the first-instance court. The Volgograd Regional Court, where his appeal is considered, has rejected all of his motions. The Prosecutor's Office (PO) has demanded to increase Nagavkin's prison term by two years.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 18, 2023, the court found Nagavkin guilty of stealing jewellery and sentenced him to six years of freedom deprivation. Nagavkin was twice placed in the dungeon (punishment cell) at the SIZO (pre-trial prison); his defence insists that the incidents were rigged.
In 2016, Igor Nagavkin, an expert in the movement "For Human Rights" in the Southern Federal District (SFD), was arrested. In November 2018, he was released and again engaged in human rights activities, but his criminal case was not dropped. In March 2021, the PO, after checking his complaints, returned the case for further investigation due to the detected violations. In June 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) declared Nagavkin's arrest and his prolonged custody unlawful.
In his complaint, Nagavkin listed violations of convicts' rights to defence. This, in his opinion, should entail the annulment of the verdict, "since the verdict was based on inadmissible proofs."
Ilya Govorukhin, an advocate, has stated that the SIZO administration used to put pressure on Nagavkin.
Lev Ponomaryov**, a human rights defender, has called Nagavkin "the strongest human rights defender in the province." He had collaborated with Lev Ponomaryov** for more than 10 years. "During this time, Igor was an expert with the Russian Ombudsperson. He managed to ensure that for some time there were no cases of torture in the colonies located in the Volgograd Region. He had fought against drug dealers in his city," Mr Ponomaryov** has added.
*By the Russian Supreme Court the movement has been recognized to be a terrorist organization.
**Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 29, 2023 at 00:46 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Vyacheslav Yaschenko Source: СK correspondent
