The Syktyvkar City Court sentenced nationalist Nikolai Kochetkov to a real imprisonment. Decision was made by the magistrate of Kutuzovsky judicial district of Syktyvkar. Let us recall that on May 18, 2013, nationalists tried to obstruct the open general meeting of the Komi Memorial Human Rights Commission in Syktyvkar in the "Campus" timeclub.
Then, immediately after the meeting started, members of the “Rubezh Severa” movement broke into the cafe. This brawl culminated in the street, where the attackers poured ketchup on defenders, and one of them — Nikolai Kochetkov — hit I. Sazhin.
After the incident, N. Kochetkov fled from justice and was put on the wanted list. Accused of assaulting Nikolai Kochetkov was detained on December 19 and placed under arrest.
At the meeting preceding the sentence, the young man pleaded not guilty and said that he hit someone back in autopilot mode and "accidentally" hit the human rights activist; there were no hooliganism in his actions. In the courtroom, it was also found out that N. Kochetkov was previously convicted under article 111 ("Intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm"), during 2013 was held administratively liable, and, according to «7x7», is currently a target in another investigation criminal case related to drugs.
As judged by the testimony of the defendant, which he announced during his interrogation at the previous meeting, the decision to attend a meeting of "Memorial" with A. Kolegov and his team-mates was spontaneous; however, it became clear from the read off testimonies of police officers, that the Republican Department for Countering Extremism knew about the planned provocation in advance, and therefore there were law-enforcement officers on duty close to the meeting place of the Human Rights Commission.
Moreover, the arguments of the young man that he has no relation to the nationalist organization were denied by deposition printing record from A. Kolegov’s blog, in which he, describing the events at the meeting of human rights defenders, calls N. Kochetkov "our activist".
The prosecution asked to appoint a penalty under paragraph "a" of Part 2 of Article 116 ("Beating of hooliganism") in the form of imprisonment in colony with a strict regime for 1 year 8 months.
The defender of N. Kochetkov disagreed with the prosecution, because, he said, his client's guilt was confirmed only partially. According to him, there is no indication of the defendant to be a member of the nationalist organization and asked to redefine Article 116 Part 1, not connected with imprisonment.
Due to the information of «7x7» provided to Syktyvkar prosecution, the court adjudged N. Kochetkov guilty under Part 2 of Article 116 of the Criminal Code and sentenced him to 8 months of imprisonment in a correctional camp with a strict regime.
Leader of "Rubezh Severa" in the comment to «7x7» called the trial and the verdict to N. Kochetkov a revenge to all nationalists.
"Once again, we saw Sazhin’s true colors and real violence at the hands of him. When it happened, he turned to the police and said that will settle the matter himself. Sazhin churned it out. There was a case with Yekishev, when I was in prison, human rights activists came and asked how they can help. It’a a cadging. I opened the site and saw that there are proceedings, he (N. Kochetkov - Ed.) didn’t resort to us, they simply chose the most unprotected one and started to revenge."
A chairman of the Komi Memorial Human Rights Commission Igor Sazhin considered a sentence to be too harsh:
“Putting in prison was not necessary; he has already been punished by the fact that he was sitting in predetention centre. Delved into politics; the prison term was given for nothing,” a human rights activist voiced an opinion.
Photo: Andrei Shopsha, "Krasnoye Znamya"
Viktor Ivanov , «7x7»
Original: http://7x7-journal.ru/item/36947
