Russia’s Supreme Court issued the ruling to free Ildar Dadin. Earlier, Prosecutor General’s Office moved for the release of the activist.
His case has been closed owing to the absence of the event of a crime. The Supreme Court recognized Dadin’s right for rehabilitation, which means that he will be able to claim compensation.
The relevant papers have been sent to the penal colony. The activist is likely to walk free in the coming days.
In early February, the Constitutional Court of Russia demanded to reconsider his sentence, because a criminal case against activist was initiated on the basis of court decisions on administrative violations that had not become fully effective.
According to the Constitutional Court, one can be sentenced for participating in unsanctioned rallies if the event lost its peaceful nature or resulted in significant damage. At the same time, the fact of an administrative penalty may not serve as an irresistible proof of guilt. At the same time, the court founf Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code constitutional.
Ildar Dadin became the first political prisoner in Russia, who was sentenced under the amendments to the Criminal Code which had been approved by the Russian State Duma after the annexation of Crimea. According to the amendments, anyone may end up prison for participating in unsanctioned rallies and actions organized by the opposition. This happened to Dadin, regardless of the fact that he held one-man pickets.
The activist was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment by a Moscow court for repeated anti-government street protests on 7 December 2015. A first violation of the law is punishable by a fine or up to 15 days’ administrative detention. Three such violations within 180 days result are prosecuted as a criminal offence punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment.
In early November, Dadin revealed his being beaten and tortured in prison Nr 7 in Karelia, where he had been sent to serve after the sentence. After the case was made public, the prison director was fired and even Putin turned his attention to the case. But the presidential inspection did not discover anything.
“Ildar Dadin’s allegations of beatings, humiliation and rape threats are shocking, but unfortunately they are just the latest in a string of credible reports indicating that torture and other ill treatment are being widely used in the Russian penal system with impunity, with the aim of silencing any form of dissent,” said Sergei Nikitin, Director of Amnesty International Russia. The organization considered Ildar Dadin a prisoner of conscience.
“He is the first to have been put into prison for the participation in protests. Up until then, all the political prisoners had been jailed after being convicted of criminal offences, i.e. beating policemen or fraud,” Russian activist Masha Makarova told Belsat.eu
