Of 39 activists of the National Bolshevik Party (NBP), who occupied a reception office of president’s staff a year ago, eight were sentenced to from two to three and a half years of prison December 8, 2005; 31 activists got suspended sentences and were freed right in the court hall. NBP leader, Eduard Limonov called the sentences “savage punishment targeted at scaring opposition parties.”
As only Nikulinsky court of Moscow could receive all accused activists, it was chosen as the place of outside sitting of the Tver court. But the housing capacity of even that court proved insufficient to accommodate around a half of close relatives and reporters, who arrived to listen to the verdict.
On December 14, 2004, 39 national Bolsheviks broke into the reception office of president’s staff. For this action, they were charged under the clause of mass riots’ participation, which sets forth the prison sentence of between three and eight years. To cut down the term, parents and right advocates referred to the European Court of Human Rights seeking the status of political prisoner. The lawyers insisted on the psychological examination. As a result, prosecutors demanded from a year and a half to five years for Limonov followers.
The better part of the activists got only suspended sentences yesterday, the terms of imprisonment were minimal as well. Once the judge announced the verdict and left for a consultation room, the national bolsheviks, who were on the wrong side of the bar, started repeating the party’s oath. “Feeling powerful strength of all party brothers, wherever they are… Let my blood pour into the blood of the party, let us be a single body. [I say] yes to the death,” the young people threw up clinched fists in the end.
“Kommersant”
Tags: blood, Limonov, NBP, occupied, president’s staff, prisoner