Lawyers comment on new charges against Nikita Zhuravel

The criminal article on high treason, which was charged to Volgograd resident Nikita Zhuravel, provides for punishment up to life imprisonment, lawyers note. The criminal case has signs of persecution for political reasons, a human rights defender suggests.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on February 27, in Grozny, a court sentenced Nikita Zhuravel to 3.5 years of imprisonment, finding him guilty of violating the right to freedom of religion and hooliganism. On October 3, the General Prosecutor’s Office reported the institution of a new case against Nikita Zhuravel under the article on high treason.

The unfounded accusations against Nikita Zhuravel, the lack of the right to judicial protection and adversarial proceedings in the conditions under which the main trial and the new case were held make the defendant a political prisoner, claims Svetlana Gannushkina*, the chair of the “Civic Assistance” Committee*, a member of the “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence (CHRD)**.

If the Nikita Zhuravel’s actions had been considered within the framework of the law and a punishment had been imposed, even a severe one, he would not have been a political prisoner. However, the transfer of the Nikita Zhuravel’s case to Chechnya, where human rights are poorly observed, and then the beating of Nikita Zhuravel at a SIZO (pre-trial prison) by a son of Ramzan Kadyrov make the Nikita Zhuravel’s case political, Svetlana Gannushkina* explains.

The human rights defender has also expressed her doubts concerning the Nikita Zhuravel’s testimony, in which he confesses to collaborating with the Ukrainian special services, allegedly on whose orders he burned the Koran. A person under pressure is able to confess to various crimes, Svetlana Gannushkina* emphasizes.

The charge on high treason brought against Nikita Zhuravel a year and a half after his detention and separately from the case on the burning of the Koran, which had already been considered by the court, can be explained by the bureaucratic procedures of investigators, who work in violation of deadlines, believes Alexei Golenko, a lawyer of the Moscow Bar Association.

Miki Arapiev, a lawyer of the Moscow Bar Association, has expressed his doubt that the criminal case on high treason is revenge against Nikita Zhuravel for burning the Koran.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.

**As reported on the website of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the reason for including on March 1, 2024, the unregistered “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence (CHRD) into the register of foreign agents was the spread of “inaccurate information aimed at creating a negative image of the Russian Federation, as well as the Russian Armed Forces.”