219:. On the day the verdict was handed down, Amnesty International issued a statement describing the trial of Belousov and his seven co-defendants as âclearly a show trial.â John Dalhuisen of Amnesty International said, âWhat happened on Bolotnaya Square on May 6, 2012 was not the quelling of a riot, but the crushing of a protest. The Bolotnaya trial has not exposed orchestrated violence, but rather a criminal justice system that is entirely malleable to the dictates of its political masters." Amnesty International called for the immediate release of the Bolotnaya protestors whom it described as prisoners of conscience. Human Rights Watch described the guilty verdicts against Belousov and the other seven defendants as âa miscarriage of justice.â
175:, he was seen âbending down to pick up an object, which he then aimlessly tossedâŚin the direction of riot police. There are no videos or still images of the object striking anyoneâŚ.Videos taken from another angle (and posted on the web) clearly show Belousov tossing the remains of the crushed tangerine or lemon he had bent down to retrieve.â While the defense said that the item in question was a lemon, and that the policeman who claimed to have been harmed by the projectile had departed from the scene before it was thrown, prosecutors argued that the object in question had been a billiard ball.
242:(R-VA), expressed âgrave concern over the mass detentions of peaceful protestersâ who had taken to the streets âto protest the sentences handed down in the cases of eight participants of the Bolotnaya Square demonstrations,â including Belousov. The Lantos Commission described the trials as having been âmarked by a lack of due processâ and as âwidely recognized as politically-motivated,â and urged the Russian government âto address these recent instances of blatant injustice.â
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protestors, rather than opposition leaders, indicated their intent to intimidate. The case against
Belousov and other protesters was set apart from other trials against opposition members, according to the Times, by the fact âthat not one of the defendants was a high-profile opposition leader when arrested.â
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In June 2012, Russia's human-rights ombudsman stated the mass-rioting charges brought against
Belousov and others were disproportionate. In December 2013, âan international panel of experts on freedom of assembly published a report that found that although there were individual violent episodesâ that
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According to authorities, 29 police officers and 55 protesters reported injuries, mostly minor, sustained in the violence that erupted during the
Bolotnaya Square protest. Russian investigators claimed that the violence had been part of an orchestrated plan to destabilize the government. Belousov was
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cited
Agranovsky's view that âthe lengthy pretrial detention of most of the defendants was proof of the political nature of the charges,â and quoted him as stating that it was unusual the government detained the suspects were held for a year without bail, despite no previous arrest record for any of
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Belousov was imprisoned pending trial by the Moscow
Zamoskvoretsky Court. Between his arrest and December 2012, he was allowed to see his wife only twice, in the visitorsâ room of the detention center. One observer of his pre-trial incarceration criticized the lengths the government took to imprison
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Outside the court, protesters held a banner reading: âYou Canât Jail
Everybody.â As the judge read the sentences for Belousov and his fellow defendants, according to one source, "chants of âShame!â" entered the court. Agranovsky told a reporter that the harsh punishment meted out to his client was,
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that the charges against
Belousov were based entirely on one officer's testimony who claimed to be struck in the chest by a "yellow object". Agranovsky expressed doubt that the officer had been seriously hurt, noting â riot police officerâs chest is protected by a serious guard, some sort of Kevlar
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At the time of the protest, both
Belousov and his wife were studying at Moscow State University. Both of them attended the protest on Bolotnaya Square. Belousov's wife, Tamara Belousova, later said that her husband had attended the protest in part because of his research into political organization
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In a
February 25, 2014, statement, the U.S. Department of State condemned the sentencing of Belousov and the other protestors. The State Department claimed that they had been unlawfully detained for over a year on politically-motivated charges, calling it "another example of punishment of Russians
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On June 9, 2012, Belousov was taken into custody again, this time by authorities appearing at his apartment where he lived with his wife, child, and mother-in-law. Belousov was charged under paragraph 2 of
Article 212 (âParticipation in Mass Riotsâ) and paragraph 1 of Article 318 (âUse of Violence
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On February 24, 2014, Belousov was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison. The judge stated he had received a reduced sentence due to his having never committed a crime previously. The judge maintained, however, that defense witnessesâ testimony had ânot refuted the overflowing of the events
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Belousov and his wife, Tamara Belousova, were married in 2010. She was 21 years old in June 2013, and at that time was also a political science student. She and her husband are the parents of a son, Andrei, who was 4 years old as of June 2015. According to his wife, Belousov is âa scholarly man
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In January 2014, Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky court rejected amnesty for both Belousov and Alexandra Dukhanina, another defendant in the Bolotnaya Square case. The prosecutor in the trial demanded a 5-year prison sentence for Belousov. In his closing statement, Belousov state: âI do not plead guilty
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also reported in its June 9 article that the case against Belousov and the other Bolotnaya Square protesters, as well as other cases against opposition leaders, had managed to suppress the anti-Putin protest movement through fear. Critics claimed that the government's clamp down on ordinary
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The conclusion of Human Rights Watch (HRW) was virtually the same, with HRW official Tanya Lokshina saying: âThe facts on the ground simply did not justify mass rioting charges against the protesters, let alone conviction.â During Belousov's imprisonment, HRW called on Russia to release the
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According to officials, Belousov had thrown ârocks and pieces of asphaltâ and had broken through a cordon and attacked police officers. Video evidence, supported by the testimony of witnesses, indicated that Belousov had only thrown a piece of fruit. In one four-second video, according to
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had taken place in Bolotnaya Square, they did not constitute a 'mass riot'. This panel, too, described the criminal charges brought against Belousov and others as unwarranted and concluded that the May 6 violence was a result of the government's response.
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in his view, âin part a Kremlin reaction to the upheaval in neighbouring Ukraine.â At the sentencing, about 200 persons, among them two previously incarcerated members of the punk band Pussy Riot, were briefly detained by police outside the court.
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methods. Belousov himself later stated he attended Bolotnaya Square for to collect data for his university thesis. According to his wife, Belousov had gradually become more active in promoting civic discussion.
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vest, which can withstand at the very least knives, and maybe things stronger.â Agranovsky also expressed pessimism about the trial's likely outcome, stating the best likely outcome was a reduced sentence.
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On February 21, 2014, Belousov and seven other defendants were found guilty of âapplication of force against representatives of authority.â The sentencing was characterized by a writer for
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in June 2013 that âthis saves him now that he is in jailâŚ.I asked him how he celebrated the New Year; he answered that he finished reading five volumes of the history of the Middle Ages.â
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The trial against Belousov and his fellow defendants began on June 6, 2013. The ages of Belousov and his fellow defendants in the case, all males, ranged from 19 to 51, according to the
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reported on July 4, 2012, that the Basmanny court had extended the incarceration of Belousov and three other protesters, Maxim Lusyanin, Andrei Barabanov, and Fedor Backhov.
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Belousov was represented by attorney Dmitry V. Agranovsky, who also represented another defendant in the same trial, Vladimir Akimenkov. On June 9, 2013, the
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demonstrators from custody and stated that authoritiesâ actions violated the European Convention of Human Rights, of which Russia is a signatory.
22:(born July 30, 1991) is a Russian political-science student who was a participant in the May 6, 2012, Bolotnaya Square protest against President
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wrote a letter to Vladimir Putin in support of Belousov, and Russia's Memorial Human Rights Center recognized Belousov as a political prisoner.
73:, a national democratic movement. A December 2012 profile of Belousov described him as having lived âa life full of promiseâ until his arrest.
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On February 27, 2014, the co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the House of Representatives of the United States,
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among those arrested during the protests, and released the same day. He denied having taken part in clashes during the demonstration.
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Belousov was born on July 30, 1991. As of May 2012, he was a fourth-year student in the Faculty of Political Science at
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Not Endangering Life or Health against a Representative of the Authorities) of the Russian Federationâs Criminal Code.
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167:, though most were in their 20s. They were of a myriad of backgrounds, some being students, and journalists.
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calls his conviction a âmiscarriage of justice.â His continued imprisonment has been condemned by both the
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612:"Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Co-Chairmen Express Concern over Recent Mass Detentions in Moscow"
518:"Olympics Host Putin Protects Mother Russia From A Tangerine-Tossing Student (And A Teenage Girl Too)"
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and who has been imprisoned since June 9, 2012, as a result of his participation in the protest.
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into mass riots and have not refuted the proof of participation of the defendants in the riots.â
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342:"The List of Persons Recognized as Political Prisoners by Russia's Memorial Human Rights Center"
460:"Moscow court sends 7 to prison for anti-Putin protest, suspends sentence for 8th defendant"
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stated that there was âno video evidenceâ linking Belousov to any act of violence. The
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536:"Russia's Guilty Verdict of Bolotnaya Defendants is "Injustice at Its Most Obvious""
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for exercising their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of speech and assembly."
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interested in political scienceâ Describing him as âa man of books,â she told the
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388:"Verdict for Prisoners of the Bolotnaya Case Is a Verdict for Russian Society"
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as having been âconveniently delayedâŚuntil after theâŚclosing ceremonyâ of the
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as a representation of middle-class Russians opposed to Putin's presidency.
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Amnesty International designated Belousov a prisoner of conscience.
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A mass protest against Vladimir Putin took place on May 6, 2012, in
594:"State Dept. on Concern over Moscow Court Verdicts, Detentions"
95:. The participants in the demonstration were described in the
367:"Yaroslav, young Russian protestor caught in Putin crackdown"
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Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Russia
299:"Moscow Trial Sends Warning to Rank-and-File Putin Foes"
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Hersenhorn, David M. ; Roth, Andrew (Jun 8, 2013).
415:"Eight Russian protesters found guilty in flawed case"
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Belousov when he had a proven record of compliance.
41:and has described his trial in 2013-14 as a farce.
575:"Seven Putin protesters get up to 4-year terms"
203:because I was not involved in any wrongdoing.â
344:. Institute of Modern Russia. 22 January 2014.
436:"CCS Urges Putin to Release Student Activist"
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315:: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
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496:"Boltnaya square case results in arrests"
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516:Gregory, Paul Roderick (Feb 22, 2014).
478:"One Day - One Name. Yaroslav Belousov"
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