The Leninsky District Court of Vladimir sentenced a resident of Raduzhny city Vitaly Timofeenko to three years in a general regime colony. He was found guilty of attacking a police officer under Part 2 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“The use of violence dangerous to life or health against a government official”) during an uncoordinated rally on 23d of January. This was reported to the 7x7 correspondent by his lawyer Anatoly Shuvalov.
According to the investigation, on January 23d, Vitaly Timofeenko sprayed gas in the face of a policeman. He received a chemical burn to his eyes and had to recover for three weeks.
- Vitaly specially came to this action to take part in the meeting. It seemed to him that the police officers were behaving aggressively towards one of the demonstrators, so he sprayed gas,” - Anatoly Shuvalov told the 7x7 correspondent.
The prosecutor's office requested five years' imprisonment in a general regime colony for Timofeenko. According to the lawyer, the prosecution requested such a long term, since his client had committed a serious crime against a government official "who is on guard of public order and legality."
During the trial, Shuvalov asked not to imprison Timofeenko and to take into account mitigating circumstances: admission of guilt, repentance, confession, apologies to the injured policeman and positive characteristics.
“Please don’t deprive me of my freedom. The company I work for needs me. They are waiting for me. My wife is waiting for me. Mom is waiting for me. Due to nervous conditions, she might pass away. I'm worried about that. I want to work for the good of my homeland, to be useful to this country. I want to become a blood donor. I don’t want to be a burden to the state, so that someone has to feed me there for free, ” - the Vladimirskaya Gazeta publishing quoted Timofeenko's last word in court.
However, the court sentenced Timofeenko to three years in prison. The man intends to lodge an appeal.
4,000 people were detained at uncoordinated protests on January 23d in support of Alexei Navalny and other political prisoners in Russia. Vitaly Timofeenko became the first convict who received a real prison sentence for participating in a rally that day. Earlier, a resident of Kostroma, Alexei Vinogradov, was sentenced to one and a half years of hard labor.
