“We want the rights to rehabilitation”: the UK has closed a criminal case on the circulation of espionage funds against a police officer from Ingushetia

In Ingushetia, the criminal case against the former police officer Magomed Bersanov, who was accused under the article on illegal trafficking in spy devices (138.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), was dropped. As the lawyer of Bersanova Adam Uzhakhov told RT, the case was returned from the court for further investigation, and then closed due to the absence of corpus delicti.

The press service of the Russian IC in the Republic of Ingushetia RT confirmed that the criminal case against Bersanov was terminated due to the absence of corpus delicti in his act.

RT told about how the criminal case against Bersanov was investigated back in November 2018, when the prosecution filed the case file with the indictment. Prior to that, local security forces conducted an investigation for almost a year and a half.

A GPS-tracker with a built-in microphone was found in the office of the head of the linear police department of transport in Nazran Magomed Bersanov in July 2017 during a routine scheduled inspection of state secrets protection conducted by FSB officers.

Bersanov explained to the inspectors that a jealous girl who had wanted to be convinced of his loyalty had planted a device for him long ago. However, the FSB officers did not believe the explanations of the policeman.

According to lawyer Bersanov, investigators found someone who confessed to selling a spy gadget to a policeman. Defender noted that the seller could be a false witness.

As a result, the UK filed a criminal case against Bersanov under the article "Turnover of special technical means intended for secretly obtaining information."

“Just gave up”

“When the case went to court, we filed a motion to return the materials to the prosecutor, because the investigation did not even set the time of the crime,” Uzhakhov says. - The court supported the petition, but the prosecutor's office appealed against it. However, in the Supreme Court, the state prosecution refused to support its complaint. The fact is that around this time the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court issued a decree concerning criminal cases under Article 138.1. The decision clarifies that citizens who use such devices for domestic purposes cannot be held criminally liable. Apparently, the prosecutor's office and the IC understood that the verdict would be ultimately acquittal. Therefore, the materials were returned to the Investigative Committee, and the investigator stopped the persecution of Bersanov. ”

According to the lawyer, he and his client intend to obtain from the investigation of another decision - termination of the criminal case due to the absence of a crime event.

“We want Bersanov to have the right to rehabilitation. Therefore, they appealed the ruling of the Investigation Committee, sent a complaint to the Chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, in which they stated that the case was terminated prematurely and illegally. The investigation did not check all our arguments, even the alibis - they simply gave up on the criminal case because of the plenum of the Supreme Court. ”

Due to the criminal prosecution, Bersanov is still unable to get a job after being fired from the police.

“Because of this story, I lost my job - I had to leave the bodies where I worked most of my life,” notes Bersanov in an interview with RT. “Therefore, I intend to seek the right to rehabilitation and is ready, if necessary, to challenge the actions of the initiators of the criminal case in a European court.”

State Duma, Supreme Court and Farmer

Recall that in December 2018, the plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation adopted a resolution “On some issues of judicial practice in cases of crimes against constitutional rights and freedoms of man and citizen”, in which he explained to the courts how criminal cases under the article on trafficking in spy gadgets should be considered.

“They cannot be qualified under article 138.1 of the Criminal Code of a Russian Federation by a person who acquired a device intended for secretly obtaining information with the intention to use, for example, to ensure personal safety, the safety of family members, including children, the safety of property or animal tracking and did not intend to use it as a means of encroaching on the constitutional rights of citizens, ”the resolution of the Russian armed forces says.

In addition, the Supreme Court noted that the courts should “exclude cases of unjustified criminal prosecution,” if the defendant did not know about the true purpose of the device.

At the same time, there is a government bill in the State Duma, which supplements the article on spyware with a note, defining the term “special technical means intended for secretly obtaining information”. The Supreme Court, in its response to the bill, pointed out the vagueness of the wording.

The response states that the proposed description provides an opportunity to “overly broadly interpret the rule, which will cause difficulties in its enforcement”. In other words, the law, which, according to the statements of officials, should relieve the citizens who buy devices for domestic purposes from criminal responsibility, will not work in the proposed wording. The Responsible Committee of the State Duma recognized the comments as significant, but proposed to adopt the bill in the first reading. Taking into account the comments of the Supreme Court, the amendments will presumably be finalized by the second reading.

Officials began to change legislation after the story of a farmer from the Kurgan Region, Yevgeny Vasilyev, who caused a wide public response. A man ordered a GPS tracker via the Internet in China, with which he was going to monitor the calf. A hidden microphone was included in the tracker, which is activated remotely. As a result, the UK accused Vasiliev of illegal trafficking in spy devices.

The correspondent of RT asked a question about the criminal prosecution of the farmer to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference held on December 14, 2017. After that, the regional prosecutor's office checked the legality of the prosecution of Vasilyev and concluded that the case had been initiated unreasonably. As a result, in the spring of 2018, the SC stopped the investigation due to the lack of evidence that could indicate that the defendant intends to spy on citizens. The prosecutor's office of the Kurgan region brought the official apologies to the farmer.