MOSCOW, November 25 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court will continue hearing appeals against sentence of defendants in the New Greatness (“Novoe Velichie”) movement case on December 2, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

The court adjourned the appeals because the movement’s alleged leader Ruslan Kostylenkov had not been notified of the hearing date and another defendant Petr Karamzin had not studied case materials yet.

The defendants and their defense insist on acquittal. 

Prosecutors have also challenged sentence delivered in the case.

On August 6, Dmitry Poletayev, Maxim Roshchin, Maria Dubovik and Anna Pavlikova received 6, 6.5, 6 and 4 years of suspended sentence respectively.

The movement’s alleged leader Ruslan Kostylenkov was ordered to serve 7 years in penal colony, Vyacheslav Kryukov and Petr Karamzin were imprisoned for 6.5 and 6 years in jail respectively.

The court found that Anna Pavlikova, Maria Dubovik, Dmitry Poletayev, Maxim Roshchin, Ruslan Kostylenkov, Vyacheslav Kryukov and Petr Karamzin created the community for a violent upheaval.

Prosecutors earlier asked the court to sentence alleged leader of the extremist movement Kostylenkov to 7.5 years in penal colony; Karamzin and Kryukov to 6.5 and 6 years behind bars respectively. Suspended terms were demanded for other defendants.

Alleged activists of the extremist movement were arrested in March 2018. Investigators stated that the defendants followed far-right ideas and that their leader claimed that he planned to establish a new order in Russia.

The New Greatness case became a subject of public controversy because the defense has information that the movement itself was organized by a law enforcement officer.