20 March 2008, 21:27
Court leaves OMON fighters accused of beating teenagers in Sochi under arrest
On March 19, the Krasnodar Territorial Court ruled to leave four ex-fighters of Sochi OMON (Special Militia) behind bars. The fighters are accused of mass beating of tourists in children's camp "Druzhba" (Friendship). The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Ilya Melkonyan, father of the victim Gevorg Melkonyan, who took part in consideration of complaints against the ruling to keep the defendants under guards.
Thus, another set of cassation complaints lodged by Alexei Korolyov, Igor Pimenov, Maxim Ozhgikhin and Vladimir Zubenko against the decision of the Lazarevskoye District Court of Sochi, which had rejected their petitions to change arrest for recognizance not to leave, has been rejected.
Igor Kalyapin, Chairman of the Inter-Regional Committee against Torture, who is engaged in public support of the victims, has explained the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the charges of excess of official powers with application of violence (part 3, Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), presented to the defendants, are heavy crimes and assume from 3 to 10 years of imprisonment. According to the usual judiciary practice, those accused of such crimes are kept in custody.
Author: Vyacheslav Feraposhkin, CK correspondent
