Witnesses in case on riots in Demyanovo are pressed on, lawyer asserts

In the case of riots in the village of Demyanovo, prosecution witnesses are being pressured by the law enforcement agencies. This was stated by Vasily Dravert, the lawyer of defendant Vladimir Burakov. According to investigator Ivan Ugryumov, all witnesses were questioned in accordance with the law.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 22, in the village of Demyanovo of the Kirov Region, police officers had to use their weapons to prevent a mass fight between local residents and about 40 natives from Northern Caucasus. According to the police, the conflict occurred on local motives on June 20, when a fight broke out between a sawmill owner and two other residents of the village of Demyanovo. The police of the Kirov Region instituted a criminal case on the fact of beating of a native of Northern Caucasus.

On August 29, the Kirov Region started consideration of the first cases on riots in the village of Demyanovo. At present, criminal cases, instituted on the fact of mass riots, involve two local residents Alexander Babushkin and Vladimir Burakov.

"Investigators themselves do not believe that Vladimir Burakov set bar on fire"

At present, the witnesses of the prosecution are under pressure. This was stated by Vasily Dravert, lawyer of Vladimir Burakov. His client is suspected of attacking a police officer and setting a cafe on fire.

"Witness Fofanov gave me a complaint, in which he wrote how he was taken to the forest, threatened to 'be put on an anthill', promised to be drown in a river, and a little bit 'thrashed'. In the end, he signed a false confession, in which he, in particular, wrote how he allegedly went to set fire (to the bar, belonging to natives of Dagestan, note of the "Caucasian Knot") together with Burakov," the lawyer said.

Vasily Dravert believes that the results of the investigatory expertise evidence in favour of Vladimir Burakov. "The revealed fingerprints do not belong to him," the lawyer said. He mentioned a spontaneous combustion of faulty wiring as possible cause of the inflammation of the bar.

According to Vasily Dravert, another violation was the extension of keeping of Vladimir Burakov in custody without participation of his lawyer.

Vladimir Burakov was forced to confess of setting the cafe on fire, even though he had a solid alibi. This was stated by Evgeny Kokoulin, the leader of the Kirov Branch of the "Yabloko" Party, who led monitoring of developments of the investigation into the events in Demyanovo.

He has confirmed the information about the pressure on the witnesses and stated that he had complaints from five persons against the actions of police officers. According to Evgeny Kokoulin, there were more cases of pressure; however, not all victims had filed written complaints.

Alexander Kochkin, a son of the deputy of the Podosinovsky District Soviet, confirms the alibi of Vladimir Burakov. "At that night, he was sitting in another cafe with guys, when a man ran up and said: 'Look, the bar is on fire'," Alexander Kochkin told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"There is no pressure on the witnesses," said in his turn Ivan Ugryumov, the investigator of the division for very serious cases of the Investigatory Department of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) in the Kirov Region. "I personally questioned all the witnesses, and I did not put pressure on anyone. All those people were questioned in accordance with the law," Ivan Ugryumov has stressed.

Meanwhile, the investigator denied the statements of Vasily Dravert and emphasized that the lawyer did not looked into the results of the examinations. However, the investigator has confirmed the information that the complaint of the witness Fofanov was checked and he did not reported on the results of the checking.

Besides, Ivan Ugryumov refused to confirm or deny the statements of possible increase in the number of suspects, referring to the secrecy of the investigation.