06.06 Court Extends Custody of Anti-Putin Rally Suspects
MOSCOW, June 6 (RIA Novosti) A Moscow court ordered suspects in the case of the May 6, 2012 rally that turned violent on Moscows Bolotnaya Square to be held in custody for another six months on Thursday, a court spokeswoman told RAPSI news agency.
In extending the suspects detention on the first day of the preliminary hearings into the case, Moscows Zamoskvoretsky Court upheld a motion filed by the prosecutor, the spokeswoman said.
Ten suspects in the case who are being kept in a pre-trial detention facility will stay there for another six months, and the court also extended by six months an order for Alexandra Dukhaninas house arrest and travel restrictions for Maria Baronina.
Over 650 people were detained at the May 6, 2012 rally on Moscows Bolotnaya Square on the eve of Vladimir Putins inauguration to a controversial third presidential term as police clashed with protesters.
Most were soon released, but a case was soon opened into what investigators called mass riots. The riot allegations are hotly disputed by the opposition, which blames the police for provoking the clashes and claims the case is political. Members of the Kremlins human rights council have also said the police provoked the violence.
The case of the 12 suspects, who face up to eight years in prison, is being heard separately from that of opposition leaders accused last fall of conspiring with a Georgian politician to organize nationwide disturbances including the Bolotnaya Square unrest with the aim of toppling Putin. Those charges were brought after a pro-Kremlin TV channel aired what it said was secretly recorded footage of the alleged plotters.
