MOSCOW, October 4 (RAPSI) - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has granted €12,500 in compensation to Yaroslav Belousov, who was convicted of participation in Moscow's 2012 Bolotnaya riots.
On Tuesday, ECHR published its ruling in two applications filed by Belousov. The Court held that four articles of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated by Russian authorities in Belousov's case.
Public protests erupted on Bolotnaya Square in May 2012. The rally culminated in clashes between protesters and the police. Over 400 people were arrested and scores were injured when protesters briefly broke through police lines.
Belousov, a student of the Moscow State University, was arrested in June 2012, charged with participation in mass disorder and using violence against officials and put in detention. He claimed that mass disorder had not taken place, insisting that there had only been isolated clashes between protestors and police. He also maintained that the object he had thrown struck nobody.
Belousov spent over 20 months in pretrial detention. His motions to vary the preventive measure have been repeatedly dismissed by court.
In February 2014, Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky District Court found Belousov guilty along with seven other opposition activists and sentenced him to 30 months in prison. Later, his prison term was reduced to 27 months. He was released on September 8, 2014.
Belousov lodged the first application with ECHR in December 2012. The second complaint was brought into the court in September 2014.
The applicant claimed that he had been placed in detention unjustifiably, in violation of Article 5 (right to liberty and security) of (Convention).
He also complained over poor conditions of his detention and in the courtrooms relying on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment).
Moreover, Belousov insisted that Article 6 (right to a fair trial), Article 10 (freedom of expression), Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) and Article 18 (limitation on use of restrictions on rights) of the Convention had been violated as well.
ECHR ruled that Russia had violated Articles 3, 5, 6 and 11 of the Convention.