Yevgenia Vasilyeva, an associate of the former defense minister who is under house arrest, was spotted shopping at a Chanel boutique in Stoleshnikov Lane.
After that, everyone helpfully clarified the terms of her house arrest and found out that former Defense Ministry official Yevgenia Vasilyeva, placed under house arrest in connection with the Oboronservis embezzlement case, is entitled to three hours of outdoor walks, and she may use that time to move around the city as she sees fit. In other words, neither the court nor the Investigative Committee objects to shopping at a Chanel boutique. And fine, let her shop if she likes—especially since this is only a mildly irritating trifle compared with the notorious 13-room apartment, and above all with the fact that Serdyukov himself has not even been charged yet. But that is not the point. How are we supposed to view Vasilyeva’s shopping spree against the backdrop of the real torture endured by defendants in the Bolotnaya case (the prosecution of protesters after the 2012 Bolotnaya Square demonstration) in the courtroom and while they await hearings?
So the word “torture” is no exaggeration here. Are the “Bolotnaya prisoners” really that much more socially dangerous than Vasilyeva? Is Vasilyeva capable of pressuring witnesses—or the nearly blind Akimenkov? Is Vasilyeva able to destroy evidence—or Mikhail Kosenko, who is spending his birthday in a cell today? That is exactly what we mean when we say: any support for this government is unacceptable, if only because it is immoral. P.S. Bonus:
“And for those who are once again trying to accuse the investigation of carrying out some kind of political order, I would like to remind them that the Investigative Committee has had, and continues to have, only one state mandate—to fight corruption on behalf of the people. And at the Investigative Committee, corrupt officials are not sorted into categories. Sooner or later, all of them will be ours,” the Investigative Committee spokesperson added.
Today, Moscow’s Butyrsky District Court gave former deputy prefect of the city’s North-Eastern Administrative District, Iosif Reikhanov, a five-year suspended sentence for embezzling 376 million rubles. In addition, the court found Reikhanov guilty of illegally possessing 370 rounds of ammunition for an award Makarov pistol presented in the name of the commander of the Railway Troops. ... While delivering the verdict, Judge Dmitry Guryanov said that the defendants’ guilt had been fully proven, but that their rehabilitation was possible without isolating them from society. The court also took into account a number of mitigating circumstances, namely positive references from their workplaces and the absence of prior convictions. After hearing the verdict, Reikhanov, Baklenev, Konosov, and Shamanov, who had been under travel restrictions, freely left the courtroom.