Human rights defender Nagavkin accuses court of bias

In his last plea, Igor Nagavkin, a human rights defender, has doubted the impartiality of the appellate court and refused to ask for verdict mitigation. His advocate, Ilya Govorukhin, pointed to inconsistencies in the case files, while Sergey Ivaschenko, another advocate, has noted that such inconsistencies arise when courts fail to question important witnesses.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 18, 2023, a court in the Volgograd Region found Igor guilty of stealing jewellery and sentenced him to six years in prison. On July 13, the court rejected all Nagavkin's petitions, in which he asked the appellate court to interrogate the inquiry figurants, the victim and the fourth defendant in the case.

Nagavkin has again stated that the judge refused to consider the proofs of his alibi and made numerous violations of the law and judicial ethics.

"Since 2001, I have been engaged in human rights activities, and fought against drug addiction ... The revenge [of law enforcers] brought me into the dock and to the SIZO (pre-trial prison). In Volgograd, you, judges, fail to respect the law; you respect only force and fear," Mr Nagavkin said in his last plea, adding that "the judge was not going to pass a fair and impartial verdict."