Week-ending 27 November 2020
This week a court in Vladimir region refused to release Konstantin Kotov on parole. Konstantin Kotov has been recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. He was jailed for four years on 5 September 2019 for “repeated violation of the established procedure of organizing or holding public events” (Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code). On 27 January 2020, the Constitutional Court of Russia ruled that Konstantin Kotov’s case should be reconsidered. On 20 April Moscow City Court upheld his conviction but reduced his sentence from four years to a year-and-a-half in a penal colony.
Sources:
RAPSI, Friday, 27 November 2020: The Petushinsky District Court of Russia’s Vladimir Region on Friday rejected a parole bid filed by activist Konstantin Kotov convicted of repeated violations of a rally holding order, the court’s press service reported. Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court convicted and sentenced Kotov to 4 years in jail in September 2019. A month later, the Moscow City Court upheld the verdict. He filed a cassation appeal against the ruling. In early March, the Second Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction returned the case of Kotov to a lower court for reconsideration. In April, the Moscow City Court reduced a 4-year prison sentence passed on Kotov to 1.5 years. The court included in the sentence the term Kotov spent in detention from August 13, 2019 to April 20, 2020.
‘Russia: Prisoner of conscience Konstantin Kotov will remain in jail’, Amnesty International, 20 April 2020
