Defendants, accused of vandalizing Rostov cemetery, claim pressure during inquiry

Today, in Rostov-on-Don, Ivan Bykadorov and Dmitry Eremenko, two defendants in the criminal case of vandalism at the North Cemetery, stated at the court session that they were forced to write confessions under psychological and physical pressure from law enforcers.

The "Caucasian Knot" reported that at night of April 17, 2011, at the North Cemetery in Rostov-on-Don, about 40 destroyed and damaged monuments were found. On June 10, 2011, the suspects were detained. In March 2012, the Prosecutor's Office approved the indictment in the criminal case. The case was brought to the District Court. At the first court session, held on April 5 by the Voroshilov District Court, the defendants Dmitry Eremenko and Vadim Olesov partially admitted their guilt, and Ramazan Gaitukiev and Ivan Bykadorov denied the charges against them.

The today's court session was not attended by the witnesses, on whose questioning the defence insisted. The evidences, read out by prosecutors, included confessions of Ivan Bykadorov, Dmitry Eremenko, and Vadim Olesov, in which they admitted that they pulled out grave crosses to ignite the fire.

Besides, the court session read out the reports of the investigatory experiments, conducted to test the evidence in place. According to those documents, the defendants confirmed again that they pulled out grave crosses and also told the investigators that they saw their friends, who were not defendants in the case, pulling out grave crosses.

"I have destroyed one gravestone monument, and I regret it. I made this in a state of alcoholic intoxication and nervous breakdown. I felt indignant after a conversation with my girlfriend, who was going to go to Canada, and I was not happy about that. So, I approached a gravestone monument and hit it with my hand. The gravestone monument fell down. Perhaps, it was not fixed, and, therefore, it fell down. I had no intent, and I was in a state of collapse," Dmitry Eremenko described the circumstances at the cemetery. He has added that he also brought grave crosses to ignite the fire; however, all those grave crosses were from a garbage dump.

According to the defendant, during the investigation, he wrote his confession under pressure.

"I was beaten and subjected to moral pressure. At that time, I was a student and lived in a dorm. A policeman entered my room and asked to go out. They handcuffed me and put me in their car. On the way to some unknown destination, policemen asked me if I had weak heart and liver, and after that, they started beating me right at the car. I had a broken jaw at that time, and they used that situation," Dmitry Eremenko stated. He has added that he appealed to his public lawyer on that occasion, and the lawyer recommended him not to complain about the policemen's actions and conduct their own confessions.

Ivan Bykadorov, the second defendant in the case, also claimed pressure during the investigation.

"Five persons beat me. And I wrote my confession under pressure from the staff members of the Centre to combat extremism," Ivan Bykadorov stated.

According to the defendant, he denies all charges against him.

"I personally brought three grave crosses for the fire. I took two of them, already decrepit, from the garbage dump, where they were lying among boughs. And I found the third grave cross put at a tree. I saw Dmitry and Vadim (the defendants Dmitry Eremenko and Vadim Olesov, note of the "Caucasian Knot") also bringing grave crosses out of a ravine and the garbage dump," Ivan Bykadorov said. He has added that he did not see his friends destroying gravestone monuments.