“Abuses the granted right”: the court indicated that the director of the FBK delayed familiarization with the criminal case

“Beyond the Influence of Russian Justice”

The bailiffs (UFSSP in Moscow) opened a criminal case against Ivan Zhdanov for “maliciously failing to comply with a court decision that entered into legal force” (part 2 of article 315 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) on August 22, 2019. Moreover, initially, in February last year, a similar charge was brought against the ex-head of FBK Roman Rubanov. But he “for personal reasons” left FBK at the end of 2018, and now, according to him, “is beyond the influence of Russian justice”, that is, he left the country. Rubanov was put on the wanted list by the Ministry of Internal Affairs; the investigation against him continues. The post of Rubanov was taken by Zhdanov.

The criminal case is about the failure to comply with the decision of the Lublin District Court of Moscow, issued in May 2017. Then the court, in a lawsuit by businessman Alisher Usmanov, recognized part of the information set forth in the video “He is not Dimon for you,” which was untrue and discredited his business reputation.

In particular, the court invalidated the information that Usmanov allegedly bribed the then Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and former Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, interfered in the editorial policy of Kommersant and was a criminal.

According to the court decision, the defendants - FBK (Zhdanov represented his interests in court) and Alexey Navalny - were to remove the video from Navalny’s YouTube channel, from his Facebook page, from dimon.navalny.com, navalny.com, fbk .info, and post a rebuttal.

This decision was appealed. In August 2017, the Moscow City Court reviewed the case and made adjustments. A higher authority confirmed the fact of the dissemination of information discrediting Alisher Usmanov. However, in its verdict, the Moscow City Court ordered FBK and Navalny not to remove the entire clip, but only those fragments of it where there is inaccurate information.

The bailiffs considered the director of FBK Zhdanov to be responsible for the non-enforcement of this decision. He claimed that he could not delete the video, since he did not have access to the indicated resources. The inquiry lasted five months, the indictment under Art. 315 of the Criminal Code was drawn up on January 21, 2020.

At the same time, Navalny himself did not have any claims (either administratively or criminally) for non-enforcement of the court decision.

On January 21, Ivan Zhdanov and his lawyer Vladimir Voronin began to familiarize themselves with the materials of the criminal case. Its volume is nine volumes. 

Reader competition

However, the interrogating officer considered that “the accused Zhdanov and his defense counsel are abusing the rights granted to them and are clearly dragging out the time for acquaintance with the case materials”. With the consent of the prosecutor, he appealed to the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow with a request to limit the terms of familiarization until February 9, 2020.

As follows from the decision of the Tver court issued on February 5, 2020, from January 21 to January 29, Zhdanov came to the interrogator twice and got acquainted with the first and second volumes of the criminal case. Lawyer Voronin came four times - he read all nine volumes. 

Since January 31, Zhdanov and Voronin came to the interrogator again. The FBK Director re-read the first and second volumes, and his lawyer photographed all nine. 

As a result, the Tverskoy court limited the time for familiarization with the case materials until February 9, 2020. Zhdanov appealed this decision to the Moscow City Court.

“In addition to sheets of paper, a significant amount of information is on file on CD-ROMs and removable media,” the Moscow City Court quotes the claims of the defense. “Moreover, most of this information is videos, viewing and subsequent analysis of which takes a long time.”

The art of red tape

While the complaint of the FBK director was waiting in line for consideration at the Moscow City Court, the Moscow prosecutor's office approved the indictment drawn up by the interrogating officer, and on February 12, 2020 handed it to Zhdanov. 

“Today, the prosecutor’s office in Moscow handed me an indictment. Now I am officially accused, ”wrote the director of FBK on his Twitter that day.

On February 13, the case of non-enforcement of the decision to remove the video was submitted for consideration on the merits in the Tver court. The meeting was held the next day. The district court ruled that the case was not in its competence, but was a judge of the peace of the judicial section No. 367 of the Tverskoy district of Moscow.

On March 4, it migrated according to the jurisdiction of the magistrate of the judicial section 248 of the Danilovsky District. So far, there is no information on the date of the appointment of the hearing.

On March 25, the Moscow City Court refused to extend the time for familiarization with the case, finding that the Tverskoy court correctly limited them on February 9, 2020.

“The dynamics of acquaintance with the materials of the criminal case indicates a clear delay in acquaintance with the indicated materials and abuse of the rights granted by them (Zhdanov and Voronin. - RT ),” the Moscow City Court confirmed.

However, de facto, from February 9 to March 25, Zhdanov could continue to familiarize himself with the case file. How can he do it now, while his case is waiting for his appointment in the world section of the Danilovsky district. That is, in fact, from January 21, the accused had three months to read nine volumes.

For comparison, the defendants in the case of a train wreck in the Moscow metro (in the summer of 2014, three wagons went off the rails on Park Pobedy – Slavyansky Boulevard) it took five months to get acquainted with all the materials of the case. Moreover, its volume was 150 volumes, and there were four accused.

The maximum punishment provided for in Part 2. Article 315 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, incriminated to the director of FBK, does not exceed two years in prison. He also faces a fine of up to 200 thousand rubles.

In this case, the conviction, if passed, will not become an obstacle for Zhdanov in the elections to the State Duma (in December 2019, he announced his intention to nominate his candidacy). While we are talking about the allegedly committed crime of minor gravity. Only citizens convicted of serious and especially serious crimes are not eligible to be elected. Like, for example, Alexey Navalny, who was found guilty of stealing money from the Kirovles company in 2017.

* The Anti-Corruption Fund is included in the register of NGOs performing the functions of a foreign agent, by decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation of 09.10.2019.