Photo: Andrey Bok / Telegram channel “Free Sasha Skochilenko”
The Vasileostrovsky Court of St. Petersburg has completed the third day of the consideration of the case of the artist Sasha Skochilenko in the case of anti-war price tags. The girl faces up to 10 years in prison for replacing several price tags with anti-war stickers in a supermarket.
Meetings are held with many violations. For example, the data of everyone who was in the meeting room was rewritten under an audio protocol. The court collected all the passports, and returning them, the bailiff loudly read out the last names, first names and patronymics. When the lawyer began his speech, he was suddenly interrupted by the prosecutor and announced a break, after which she left the courtroom. Lawyer Yuri Novolodsky clarified whether he understood correctly that the state prosecutor Nikandrova announced a break without permission, actually starting to lead the trial. In response, judge Demyasheva stated that the lawyer should behave correctly with the court, after which she also left the hall, Mediazona writes .
“We got the impression that it is not the judge who is in charge of the process, but the prosecutor,” Skochilenko's lawyers say . – The prosecutor says: “break”, got up, left, and that’s it … After that, the presiding officer simply silently got up and also left … We believe that this indicates the absence of any equality of the parties in this process.
After the prosecutor, followed by Judge Demyasheva, returned to the courtroom, the latter issued a warning to the lawyer for “making inadmissible statements about the court.”
The judge denied the request of the defense for the journalists to take photographs and videos, fully supporting the accuser in this. “In the Telegram channels, everything that happens in court is interpreted incorrectly,” this is how the prosecutor explained why she protests against the shooting.
Court records are also being filed in favor of the prosecution. Lawyer Novolodsky recalled that at the last meeting, the defense asked to change the preventive measure for Skochilenko to house arrest on the basis of a rapidly deteriorating state of health, all the facts are supported by medical documents. The court denied the defense, but the protocol does not contain a word about medical documents and any justification for the need to transfer the girl from the pre-trial detention center. The lawyers tried to appeal against the illegal refusal within three days, but the answer came from Judge Demyasheva herself, who was informed that the defense lawyer's complaint would not be sent to the appellate instance.
“Proceedings on my complaint were terminated due to the fact that I generally “have no right to appeal against this decision,” said lawyer Yana Nepovinnova.
In response to Novolodsky’s statement, the judge said that this was an out-of-procedure statement and a skirmish ensued between her and the lawyer, into which the prosecutor intervened and again began to manage the process: the prosecutor stated that the lawyer had already received two remarks and demanded that the court read out his rights and obligations, after whereupon she threatened that she would petition for the removal of the lawyer from the courtroom. To which Novolodsky reminded that such a removal should go through the Chamber of Lawyers.
The defense is not allowed to read the minutes of past court hearings. “According to the court’s answer, the final protocol will be after the verdict, and there will be no intermediate ones, despite the explanation of the Supreme Court that after each meeting it is necessary to make a protocol,” lawyer Yana Nepovinnova said after the meeting.
The essence of the “evidence” of Skochilenko’s guilt was not immediately announced – at first the prosecutor simply tried to pronounce the page and volume numbers of the case, but after Novolodsky’s remark, she began to read out the text of the materials proving the artist’s guilt.
What, according to the prosecutor, proves Skochilenko's guilt:
- report of the operative, which he compiled during the investigation;
- job descriptions for Perekrestok employees: cashier, baker, assistant consultant, manager, bread technologist, senior cashier, ordering and receiving goods specialist, leading merchandiser, security guard;
- work schedule of employees, personal data of employees who worked in the store in March 2022;
- charter of JSC Perekrestok;
- instructions for operating an automatic door.
At the moment of reading the job description of the Perekrestok employee, lawyer Novolodsky exclaimed “how does the job description relate to the actions of Skochilenko ?!” Instead of answering, the prosecutor ran out of the courtroom. The referee did not reprimand her and did not call a break. Upon his return, the prosecutor continues to read the job descriptions of the supermarket employees. Novolodsky again and again continues to ask how these materials are, in which there is no information incriminating Skochilenko. The court does not respond to his words. The prosecutor calls Novolodsky's behavior "clownish". The court does not respond to insults against the defense.
The prosecutor did not disclose any other evidence of the accusation. The meeting has been adjourned until February 17.
“No one promised that fair justice would remain in our country by 2023,” Novolodsky told reporters after the meeting. – That's all that's left. Our task – despite such a deplorable state of justice – is to fight for those people whose actions, if they are not criminal, should be encouraged by society.