In the Moscow City Court, the jury refused to convict the father of many children, Vitaly Koltsov, of attempting to assassinate 12 Russian Guard fighters, a Mediazona correspondent reports from the courtroom. At the same time, Koltsov was found guilty of deliberately setting fire to paddy wagons.
Most of the jury felt that the man deserved leniency. At the meeting, the judge refused to consider the issue of changing the preventive measure for Koltsov, he will remain in the pre-trial detention center until at least June 13.
The reason for the case was that on May 2, 2022, Koltsov threw two Molotov cocktails into two paddy wagons parked on Revolution Square. A bottle bounced off one bus, but the other still caught fire. According to the Muscovite, he wanted to set a symbolic arson as a sign of protest, not planning to harm anyone, but the prosecution insisted that Koltsov's goal was precisely the attempted murder.
A minute and a half later, the fire in the bus was extinguished. The explosives specialist on the part of the defense conducted an examination of the case — he came to the conclusion that Koltsov's actions could not lead to the death of the employees of the National Guard, even those who could be inside the buses. The expert pointed out that Koltsov threw both bottles into the opposite corners of the bus from the diesel tank, so there was no threat of an explosion. Despite this, the court did not accept the examination as evidence.
Set fire to two paddy wagons, but did not want to kill. The jury refused to find Vitaly Koltsov guilty of the attempt on the life of 12 riot policemen
“I have the impression that the freedom of assembly in our country is significantly curtailed. I see this as a serious threat to the future of our country, because in this way the people cannot be pointed out to the authorities on their mistakes, and those who do nothing are not mistaken. Realizing this and feeling sympathy for those who are arrested for exercising their legal right, and also because they are not ready to go out with their mouths shut, I came up with the idea of a separate protest action — non-violent, but forceful, in order to speak loudly enough, to attract the attention of the authorities and the public to the problem, ”Koltsov explained his actions during one of the court sessions.
The Muscovite has been in jail for more than a year. On May 5, it became known that the case of attempted murder and deliberate arson of property against him will be considered by a jury (Article 317 of the Criminal Code and Part 2 of Article 167 of the Criminal Code). The first article provides for punishment up to life, the second — up to five years of forced labor or imprisonment for the same period. mz-publish-context-cite__image» alt=»1″ />Vodka « Russian currency” and riot police who locked themselves up. How does the prosecution prove the guilt of Vitaly Koltsov, who set fire to the paddy wagon with a Molotov cocktail