On April 27, the Moscow City Court continued consideration of the appeal in the case of ex-colonel…

On April 27, the Moscow City Court continued consideration of the appeal in the case of ex-police colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko. Let us remind you that in May 2022 he received 16 years in a maximum security colony and a fine of 470 million rubles. The first appeal hearing took place on November 15 (the Cheka-OGPU wrote about it here), but was immediately postponed to December 6 due to the failure of the defendants to appear. On December 6 (read the Cheka-OGPU report on this meeting here), Zakharchenko stated that he did not have the opportunity to familiarize himself with all the documents and evidence in the case and asked the court to correct this, which was done. It ultimately took Zakharchenko 4.5 months to further familiarize himself with the materials.

A defendant in the same process, businessman Valery Markelov, who is undergoing treatment for terminal pancreatic cancer (the diagnosis made by the FSIN commission in a pre-trial detention center last year caused a serious public campaign in support of Markelov), was unable to participate in the meetings. According to lawyers, the condition of their guarantor is steadily deteriorating.

Zakharchenko was brought to the Moscow City Court in person. He immediately laid out stacks of documents from a large green bag around him and began to examine the people present in the room with interest. Vasily Kritinin and Viktor Belevtsov (the Presnensky court sentenced them to 7 years in a maximum security colony) joined the meeting on the videoconferencing. Markelov, according to his defenders, underwent surgery the day before, is undergoing palliative treatment and is not able to join the process.

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It took an hour to set up the video connection. After this, Zakharchenko immediately began to complain about Judge Abramova from the Presnensky Court, who “did not allow the material evidence to be reviewed in full.” Alexander Gofshtein, Markelov’s lawyer, asked that new documents about Markelov’s health (it was deteriorating) be attached to the case, and also that a medical examination be ordered for his guarantor.

The judges added all of Markelov’s medical documents to the case. Documents from Belevtsov’s defense regarding his son’s serious health condition were also included in the case. The court did not make a decision to order a medical examination for Markelov.

The next meeting was scheduled for May 16. The Cheka-OGPU will monitor developments.