Tambov Regional Court rejects Vitishko's appeal against CER denial

Today, the Tambov Regional Court has considered the complaints, lodged by Evegeny Vitishko and his advocate against the decision of the Kirsanov District Court, and upheld the latter's refusal to consider the Vitishko's conditional early relief (CER), Andrei Rudomakha, the coordinator of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" (EcoWatch), told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Evgeny Vitishko was accused of damaging the fence around the territory known as "summer cottage" of Alexander Tkachov, the Governor of the Krasnodar Territory. On June 20, 2012, the ecologist was sentenced to three years of conditional imprisonment, but in December 2013 the above District Court replaced the conditional by real imprisonment and sent Vitishko to a settlement-colony in the Tambov Region, where he is serving his term. On April 15, 2015, the Kirsanov District Court of the Tambov Region refused to grant a motion to release Evgeny Vitishko on parole.

The panel of judges of the Regional Court has agreed with the conclusion of the first instance court that Vitishko has not corrected, and failed to change his views while in colony, Sergey Loktev, one of Evgeny's advocates, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. At the session, the judge stated that, according to the case files, the ecologist had reaffirmed his intention to continue his activities when back at large.

Evgeny Vitishko himself took part in the session via a video link from the Tambov SIZO (pre-trial prison), where he was convoyed a few days ago.

"By the behaviour of the panel it was clear from the very start what the decision will be made," said the advocate, adding that, in his opinion, the presiding judge "made no secret of his desire to end the case as soon as possible."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.