Over a month, investigators still did not question the only witness to the detention of Krasnodar advocate Mikhail Benyash and did not carry out any investigative actions, reported Alexei Avanesyan, a defender of Mikhail Benyash.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today, the Krasnodar Territorial Court has agreed to release Mikhail Benyash on bail of 600,000 roubles.
Krasnodar lawyer Mikhail Benyash is charged with attacking a policeman and obstructing the administration of justice (Articles 318 and 294 of the Russian Criminal Code). On September 28, the Leninsky District Court of Krasnodar placed Benyash into custody for two months. His defence stated that the arrest of Mikhail Benyash was politically motivated.
The release of Mikhail Benyash is "a common intermediate victory for civil society," activist Alexander Saveliev wrote on his Facebook page.
Mikhail Benyash was initially charged with failure to obey to the policemen's legal demands, and the administrative case did not mention any alleged attack on the policemen, noted advocate Sergey Krainikh.
"According to the case materials, Mikhail Benyash beat himself and did not react to the policemen's persuasion. Later, policemen's reports appeared stating that Mikhail Benyash beat them. The question is if we can trust those reports and why the policemen failed to complain earlier?" Sergey Krainikh told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
The investigators have not yet questioned the female activist, who became the only witness to the detention of Mikhail Benyash and recorded it on video, reported Alexei Avanesyan, an advocate in the Mikhail Benyash's case.
"There are no investigative actions being taken against Mikhail Benyash. He has been just kept in custody for a month. We ourselves try to initiate investigative actions and declare our willingness to cooperate with the investigators, but we are ignored," the advocate has stated.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency 'Caucasian Knot' on October 23, 2018 at 04:33 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Court agrees to release lawyer Benyash on bail, Benyash's advocates claim the court's refusal to study proofs, HRC "Memorial" calls for release of lawyer Benyash.