Investigator involved in Bolotnaya case takes charge of probe into ‘mass riots’ in Moscow
Rustam Gabdulin, a senior investigator and Major General of Justice, is in charge of the team probing into the case over unrest in Moscow during the protest rally on July, 27, lawyer Maksim Pashkov told TV station Dozhd.
He did not specify what source he got the information from.
According to the lawyer, Rustam Gabdulin supervised the investigations into the clashes in Moscow’s Bolotnaya Square in 2012 and the fire in the Kemerovo-based shopping mall Winter Cherry in 2018.
On August 9, Mediazona reported that the investigation team consisted of 84 employees of the Investigative Committee, but they did not name Mr Gabdulin.
In the run-up to Vladimir Putin’s inauguration in 2012, security forces brutally put down protests in Bolotnaya Square. Then the Investigative Committee opened a number of criminal cases against the protesters – more than 30 people were convicted on charges of taking part in riots and offering resistance to police officers.
In mid July, Russians started protesting against the authorities’ refusal to register opposition and independent candidates for the Moscow City Duma elections. 14 people are defendants in the criminal proceedings under Art. 318-1 (using force against against a public officer) and Art. 212-2 (participation in mass disorders) after their showing up at the rally on July, 27 and August, 3.
As reported earlier, the Russian police detained about 339 people in five Russian cities over the recent protests that took place on August, 10. In Moscow, about 50,000 people gathered for an authorised rally.
