Verdict against Evgeny Vitishko and Suren Gazaryan to be challenged at Russian SC

The appeal filed by the defence of ecologists Evgeny Vitishko and Suren Gazaryan, sentenced on charges of inflicting damage to the fence around the "summer cottage" of Alexander Tkachov, has been sent to the judicial board on criminal cases of the Supreme Court (SC) of the Russian   Federation. This has been reported today by Andrei Rudomakha, the coordinator of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" (EcoWatch).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in June 2012, Evgeny Vitishko and Suren Gazaryan, activists of the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus", were sentenced to three years of conditional imprisonment on the charge of inflicting damage to the fence around the territory, known as the "summer cottage" of Alexander Tkachov, who was then the Governor of the Krasnodar Territory. In December 2013, the Court replaced the Evgeny Vitishko's conditional sentence with the real imprisonment term, and the ecologist was transferred to the Tambov Region. Suren Gazaryan, who left Russia because of persecution, was granted a residence permit in Estonia in June 2013.

Today, Andrei Rudomakha, the coordinator of the "EcoWatch", has told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the chances for the objective consideration of the defence appeal appeared after "the information about the illegal verdicts against the Krasnodar ecologists was reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the meeting of the Presidential Council on Human Rights held on October 1."

"Earlier, the Russian SC has repeatedly refused to accept such appeals, and this time, the appeal has been accepted for consideration. It happened several days after the meeting of the President with the Human Rights Council," Andrei Rudomakha reports.

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