MOSCOW, August 5 In the criminal case on the preparation of assassination attempts on the chief editor of the Russia Today media group and RT Margarita Simonyan, as well as Ksenia Sobchak, a new defendant appeared — a certain 16-year-old Anastasia, the Kommersant newspaper writes.
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"Participants in the investigation, which is being conducted by investigators of the Main Investigative Committee of the ICR, police officers and the FSB, have established that for the crimes they are accused of, neo-Nazis from "Paragraph" used a 16-year-old girl,» the newspaper writes.
As specified, Anastasia (as Kommersant calls the girl) was supposed to get acquainted with migrants and lure them to deserted places where members of the group attacked them . The minor, according to the newspaper, took part in at least two.
«The video (of the attacks. — Ed.) was posted by the defendants on their Telegram channel, which attracted the attention of both the SBU employees who instructed them to spy on journalists for a fee, and the Russian special services,» the newspaper noted.
It is specified that the girl has not yet chosen a measure of restraint.
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"Most likely, she will go to the criminal case as a witness. The participants of the "Paragraph" the investigation, in addition to hooliganism, is now going to impute article 282.1 of the Criminal Code — «Creation of an extremist community or participation in it,» the publication added.
Margarita Simonyan, commenting on the possible appearance of a new person involved in the case , stated the following: «I do not know if it is possible to re-educate a sixteen-year-old person, but I would try.»
No official comments from law enforcement agencies yet.
In mid-July, the FSB and law enforcement officials reported that the Ukrainian special services had prevented the preparation of the murder of Simonyan. They also planned to kill Sobchak. Security forces detained members of the neo-Nazi group «Paragraph 88». Eight defendants were arrested in the case.