MOSCOW, June 22 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova) – The Moscow City Court had upheld a lower court’s ruling to send the Bolotnaya Square riot case defendant Maxim Panfilov to compulsory treatment, RAPSI learnt in the courtroom on Thursday.

By its decision, the court dismissed an appeal the defense submitted against the Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky District Court ruling and upheld its decision of March 29.

After the hearings closed, the lawyers representing Panfilov noted that the defense was going to turn to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg applying to overrule the Russian court’s decision and asking to shorten the time Panfilov is to spend in a prison psychiatric clinic.

In April 2016, Panfilov was charged with participation in mass riots and use of violence against a law enforcement officer. According to investigators, the man snatched a helmet off a riot policeman’s head on May 6, 2012.

Investigators claim that Panfilov suffers from chronic personality disorder.

The march on Yakimanka Street and the rally on Bolotnaya Square in May 2012, both authorized by the officials, resulted in mass riots and clashes with the police. Dozens of people were injured, over 400 protesters were detained.

The riot organizers, Sergey Udaltsov and Leonid Razvozzhayev, were sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. Other participants received prison terms from suspended sentences to four years. Several defendants were pardoned; one was sent for compulsory mental treatment.

The convicts’ supporters believe that the riots were provoked by police.