"An unjustifiably harsh measure." Members of the public have called for the release of journalist Smirnov from pretrial detention.
Collective appeal to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Ryazan Region, to the investigator To Dmitry Zhatkin Lawyers, business, cultural, and public representatives filed a petition with the Soviet District Court. They requested that the editor of the online publication "Vid Sboka" (Side View) be remanded in custody. To Konstantin Smirnov not involving imprisonment.
The appeal was signed by a professor of the Department of Arabic Philology at St. Petersburg State University Mikhail Suvorov, Honorary Professor of the Ryazan State University named after Yesenin, historian Vyacheslav KozlyakovChairman of the public organization "ERA" Evgeny Rybakov, head of the Scientific Research Center of the Ryazan Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve Irina Kusova and many other Ryazan residents.
They asked for Smirnov to be released under house arrest or for another measure to be chosen that does not involve imprisonment. For example, Professor Suvorov justified request like this: "Detention is an unjustifiably harsh measure, since he poses no real danger to society."
Dilbar Klado, the widow of environmental scientist Alexei Yablokov, sent a separate letter to the Investigative Committee, vouching for Smirnov. It states, in part: “I have known Smirnov for just over eight years, not only as a fellow writer, but also as an active volunteer in the movement.”Apple Garden"Smirnov is an active member of the village council, a man who is deeply concerned about the fate of the Ryazan region and Russia.".
Smirnova detained at the end of January, "on suspicion of extortion on an especially large scale" from the director of the regional capital repairs fund Alexey RogotovskyThe next day, the editor of the Ryazan Novaya Gazeta was detained. Alexey Frolov and former editor of the RZN-info website Natalia SmolyaninovaAll of them allegedly extorted money from Rogotovsky in exchange for refusing to publish negative articles. Smirnov and Frolov are located in the pre-trial detention center, Smolyaninova is under house arrest.
Smirnov's friends and family continue to collect signatures to change his preventive measures.
Photo: "Side view"
