Court in Budyonnovsk refused to restrict Bogatenkova's time for familiarization with her case
The City Court of Budyonnovsk has rejected the motion of the investigation, asking to restrict the time allocated for Lyudmila Bogatenkova, the chair of the Stavropol Committee of Soldiers' Mothers "Prikumye Mothers", for studying the materials of the criminal case initiated against her.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the investigation division of the Interior Department for Budyonnovsk lodged a petition to the above City Court, demanding to restrict the time that Bogatenkova and her advocates has to get acquainted with the materials of her criminal case. According to investigators, the defence is protracting this procedural action.
Lyudmila Bogatenkova, the 74-year-old chair of the Stavropol Committee of Soldiers' Mothers "Prikumye Mothers", is accused of a fraud, but she denies any wrongdoing and associates her persecution with her public activities. Her advocates have stated numerous violations in the course of the inquiry, including an attempt to send the indictment for approval before the end of the procedural actions within the case.
Lyudmila Bogatenkova investigated circumstances of Russian soldiers' deaths during combat actions in Ukraine in July and August 2014. In August, she delivered information about nine Russian soldiers, who were declared dead in the Rostov Region, to the Presidential Human Rights Council.
The advocate Vitaly Zubenko has noted that earlier the investigator rejected the defence's request to set the deadline for studying the case file on March 18. According to his version, the investigation into the case was "poorly conducted", while at confrontations "the defence was not allowed to ask questions to the victims and key witnesses."
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.