On May 24, the Presnensky Court, at an extraordinary meeting, considered the issue of release…

On May 24, the Presnensky Court, at an extraordinary hearing, considered the issue of releasing from custody the ex-co-owner of the 1520 Group of Companies, Valery Markelov, who was convicted of giving billions in bribes to Colonel Dmitry Zakharchenko. On May 17, the defendants in this high-profile trial heard the verdict of judge Sergei Artemov (Zakharchenko – 16, Markelov – 8, Kritinin and Belevtsov – 7 years in a maximum security colony and significant fines; the Cheka-OGPU wrote about it here.

A little over a month ago, the FSIN commission discovered pancreatic cancer in the fourth stage with numerous metastases and prescribed him immediate treatment, which was supposed to begin on April 25. However, in three emergency May hearings, the Presnensky court did not release him from custody (although he was supposed to do so by law within three days after the documents with the diagnosis were received by the court) despite wide public outcry and media reaction. In his verdict, Judge Artemov ignored Markelov’s illness and did not take into account the fact of its presence when assigning the punishment.

A repeat medical examination, which state prosecutor Milana Digaeva demanded two weeks ago, confirmed Markelov’s diagnosis, so the court, following the law, was obliged to meet to consider the issue of his release.

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The court hearing lasted less than an hour. The state prosecution (the hearing began with Milana Digaeva’s speech) this time did not object to Markelov’s release from custody and proposed to transfer him to house arrest until July 8, separately stipulating a ban on communication with the media.

Markelov’s lawyers asked the court to allow their client to take walks in the fresh air, since there are no risks in this. “Given Markelov’s extremely serious diagnosis, I ask you to release him on an obligation to appear,” said lawyer Alexander Gofshtein.

The state prosecution began to insist on house arrest, but did not object to the possibility of walking.

After 20 minutes in the deliberation room, Judge Artemov made a decision to prohibit certain actions and to remain at the address of actual residence. Markelov was released in the courtroom.