The Moscow City Court overturned the decision of the court of first instance in the case of Memorial co-chairman Oleg Orlov and returned the materials to the pre-trial stage — to the prosecutor's office. A Mediazona correspondent reports this from the courtroom.
The judge canceled the previously imposed fine. As a preventive measure, Orlov was given a recognizance not to leave.
On October 11, a judge of the Golovinsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Orlov to a fine of 150 thousand rubles, finding him guilty of repeated “discrediting” the army (part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). However, the prosecutor's office filed an appeal against the decision and asked Orlova to serve three years in prison.
During today's meeting, the state prosecution announced a new position and asked the court to return the case to the prosecutor's office.
Before the speech of lawyer Katerina Tetrukhina, judge Svetlana Kupriyanova asked her to be more concise. “The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has indicated that it is difficult to imagine speech more worthy of protecting freedom of expression than calls to end the war and pointing out its devastating consequences,” she said.
Orlov’s public defender is editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta » Dmitry Muratov examined the violations and problems found in the examination, which formed the basis of the original verdict. He added: “For good measure, the money for this examination should be returned. The life and fate of a person cannot depend on such hackwork.”
Orlov “strongly” opposed the fact that his case, at the request of the prosecutor, was returned to the pre-trial stage. He reminded the court that in the first instance both parties spent a long time proving their positions and “the prosecutor’s office obviously gave in.”
Case appeal co-chairman of Memorial Orlov. The prosecution asks to return the case to the prosecutor