MOSCOW, January 28 (RAPSI) – The lawyers on Tuesday asked the Zamoskvoretsky District court of Moscow to acquit eight defendants in the 2012 Bolotnaya riots case, attorney Dmitry Agranovsky told RAPSI on Tuesday.

Initially, twelve suspects were on the indictment, four were pardoned under the recent presidential amnesty during the trial. On January 22, prosecutors demanded to find remaining defendants guilty of participating in riots and assaulting the police.

During the closing statements, the prosecution demanded six years in prison for Aleksandra Dukhanina and Sergei Krivov. Minimal five-year sentence was requested for Yaroslav Belousov. For the rest of the participants: Andrei Barabanov, Stepan Zimin, Aleksei Polikhovich, Artyom Savyolov and Denis Lutskevich, the prosecution requested a sentence of five years and six months in prison.

Over 400 people were arrested and scores injured in the Bolotnaya Square protest that turned violent on the eve of Vladimir Putin's inauguration to a third presidential term in May 2012. Dozens were later charged with inciting mass riots and using violence against law enforcement officers.