Memorial says Vyacheslav Shatrovsky, a resident of Kostroma region convicted in connection with the events of 5 November 2017, is a political prisoner
We call for his immediate release.
Vyacheslav Shatrovsky, a builder from Kostroma region, was arrested on 5 November 2017 on Moscow’s Pushkin Square. On 24 May 2018 he was convicted at the capital’s Tver district court and sentenced to three years in a general-regime prison colony under Article 318 (Section 1) of the Russian Criminal Code (use of violence, not dangerous to life or health, against a representative of authority).
Despite the fact that, during his arrest, Shatrovsky received an open head wound, no criminal investigation into his injury was conducted. This indicates an evident bias on the part of the investigating officers. To all appearances, the prosecution of Shatrovksy was motivated by the fact that he was himself a victim of unlawful police actions. This is widespread practice. It is also the opinion of the defendant. Moreover, Shatrovsky asserts that police officers confirmed this was the case to him.
In total, the numerous detentions that took place on 5 November 2017 throughout Moscow and in other cities, of which one of the victims was Shatrovksy, had an arbitrary character, were accompanied by gross violations of human rights and were not justified in terms of the need to ensure public safety.
As a result of the injury received during his arrest, Shatrovsky was temporarily unable to work. In pre-trial detention his vision sharply deteriorated and he suffered continuous insomnia. Shatrovsky has not received the necessary medical care; he even had to ask his cell mates to remove the stitches to his head given him at the Sklifosovsky hospital. Meanwhile, police officer Pavlov, on the contrary, receive no physical injuries threatening to life or well-being. The fact that the court sentenced Shatrovsky to such a long term in jail, in the absence of material evidence and physical injuries of the «victim," and based only on the evidence of the police officers, is a glaring example of its lack of objectivity. The evidence given by Shatrovsky and by his acquaintance, which showed they did not show any aggression to the police, were in practice ignored.
Memorial Human Rights Centre continues to monitor the campaign by the authorities against supporters of Vyacheslav Maltsev, which began in the autumn of 2017 and has resulted in dozens of prosecutions, including on charges of terrorism and preparing riots. There are reasons to believe that at the very least some of the defendants have been innocent of the charges brought against them. Some have no relationship whatsoever with Maltsev or with the organisation Artpodgotovka, which is banned in Russia.
Memorial Human Rights Centre considers Vyacheslav Shatrovsky to be a political prisoner and calls for his immediate release.
We demand that public officials guilty of violating the rights and freedoms of those unlawfully detained on 5 November 2017, who were either participants in public events or chance passers-by, be brought to justice.
Recognition of an individual as a political prisoner, or of a prosecution as politically motivated, does not imply that Memorial Human Rights Centre shares or approves the individual’s views, statements or actions.
More information about this case can be read here.
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