The activists accused in the Vesna case, Anna Arkhipova, Vasily Neustroyev, Yan Ksenzhepolsky, Evgeny Zateyev, Valentin Khoroshenin and Pavel Sinelnikov, refused a jury trial at the preliminary hearing. This was reported by a RusNews correspondent from the St. Petersburg City Court.
One of the activists' lawyers, in a conversation with a SotaVision journalist, called this decision «correct and justified.» According to him, «the combination of articles that the young people are charged with could have led to a more unpleasant verdict from the jury than from the judges.»
In addition, the defense of the defendants in the case petitioned to return the case to the prosecutor's office, having found «a number of inconsistencies» in them. It is unknown what kind of inconsistencies are in question. The next hearing on the case will take place on August 13.
Arkhipova, Zeteev, Ksenzhepolsky, Neustroev, Sinelnikov and Khoroshenin are accused of rehabilitation of Nazism, organizations of an extremist community, creation of an NPO that infringes on the rights of citizens, dissemination of military “fakes”, «inclination» to mass riots< /span>and public calls for activities directed against state security. Vesna itself reported that the six arrested St. Petersburg activists “had no connection” with them for a long time.
The case was opened in May 2022 after the movement suggested coming to the Immortal Regiment rally with portraits of veterans and anti-war slogans. Six months later, the court recognized Vesna as an extremist organization.
In December 2023, a Moscow court arrested Vesna coordinator Bogdan Litvin in absentia. In July 2024, the same preventive measure was chosen for four more activists — Lev Gammer, Gleb Kondratyev, Vladislav Sorvenkov and Makar Dyakonov.