Memorial Declares Maksim Kalinichenko a Prisoner of Conscience
Maksim Kalinichenko, born 1977, is one of the organizers of the ‘Russian Jogging’ public movement in St. Petersburg, and also an opposition activist. He has been charged under Article 33, Section 2, jointly with Article 318 of the Russian Criminal Code(incitement to violence against a representative of government, dangerous to life or health) and has been held in custody since December 2011.
Kalinichenko is accused of having shouted ‘Hit the cops!’ during his arrest on 10 December, 2011, at a time when riot police, who were following the movements of participants of a demonstration ‘For Fair Elections’ between two locations, were attacked by unidentified hooligans.
However, according to the testimony of numerous witnesses and videotapes, the attackers had prepared for the attack in advance, and acted very aggressively in a way to provoke clashes between the demonstrators and the police. Kalinichenko, however, had no connection with this group, had been arrested earlier, and at the time the fighting occurred was in a police van.
In contrast to the treatment of Kalinichenko, no criminal proceedings have been brought against those who used violence against the police.
The decision to hold Kalinichenko in pre-trial detention was taken in violation of the law. The total evidence available allows us to conclude that the prosecution of Maksim Kalinichenko is prejudiced and unlawful, is a result of his lawful public activity, and that he himself is a political prisoner.
(Source: hro.rightsinrussia.info)
