Kansk, downtown. Photo: Aleksey Tarasov/Novaya Gazeta
On February 7, the case of the “anarcho-communist bund”, as eighth-graders of Kansk School No. 21 called their company, came to a close. It was heard from August 4 last year by the board of the 1st Eastern District Military Court, the judges flew in from Khabarovsk across half the country. And on Monday — the final speech of the lawyer Vladimir Vasin, then the last three words of three teenagers (they were 14 years old when they were detained, now they are all 16) — and the court will retire to the deliberation room. He will come out with a verdict before February 11 or already on February 11, when the judges' business trip expires (at the hour when I send this note to the editors, the duration of the break in the meeting is still unknown).
“The indictment contains 834 pages , in the verdict, most likely, there will be about 400, — Vasin's lawyer tells Novyi. — After moving to the deliberation room, the trio of judges will begin to form all their thoughts, notes and that same inner conviction into a single final act. The typing technique cannot be 500 words per second. Thus, my prediction: the verdict will be announced on February 11.”
The state prosecutor asked the children for 9 years in prison, 6.5 and 6 years 5 months. The mothers of the defendants hope that the military tribunal during the proceedings nevertheless became convinced of the fallacy of accusing the children of terrorism (205.3), and there is a chance that then, under the remaining articles (on explosives), they will give two or three years to an educational colony, or even take pity, by applying Article 73 (conditionally).