Just got back from the infamous Judge Borovkova, who now seems to go by Zatomskaya, but still dispenses justice in the finest Borovkova traditions. Down 1,000 rubles. Our judicial star is absolutely terrified of being photographed. Court bailiffs are checking cameras, video recorders, and even mobile phones of anyone they think might have taken a picture.
Everything went according to tradition: every motion was denied. The request to call witnesses was denied too, even though our key witness was MP Ilya Ponomaryov, who showed up in person and even submitted a written statement to the court office. Borovkova herself called in the police officers who had drawn up the paperwork on my detention. The officers vividly described how they approached me, demanded that I stop the disturbance and "leave the pool," but that "Navalny refused, waved his arms around, and shouted slogans against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and the elections." All my objections that I had actually been detained by entirely different police officers, and that these men were giving false testimony, were ignored by Borovkova (as she usually does). By questioning these "witnesses," I deliberately got them to describe in detail how the detention supposedly happened. Both said they had personally detained me and personally put me into the police van. Voilà:
And this photo completely exposes Borovkova and the entire corrupt Russian judicial system. There were 10 print journalists in the courtroom (the rest were not allowed in). Every one of them can confirm that different people testified in court. False witnesses. And we will hold them accountable. Borovkova knew perfectly well that the police officers were going to spin a complete fabrication (they went into her little room before the hearing began), which is why she denied our motion to keep an official record of the hearing, to make things harder for us later. Still, no matter. There are witnesses. We will appeal the fines. We will keep protesting. We will build the campaign machine. We will expose the fraudsters. We will defeat the crooks. Update. 15:45 Another justice of the peace, Azarova, has just given Sergei Udaltsov 10 days of arrest for some utterly ridiculous nonsense that is not even worth 1,000 rubles. Brutality and judicial lawlessness. Udaltsov has declared a dry hunger strike.