Lawyers assess prospects of Abdurakhmanov’s case after his recantation of testimony

The testimony that Bogdan Abdurakhmanov, accused of setting fire to a military registration and enlistment office, declared falsified, was the base for the charges of terrorism, pointed out Felix Wertegel, an advocate of Boris Goncharenko. In similar cases, courts usually adhere to an accusatory bias, noted lawyer Dmitry Zair-Bek.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that at a court hearing held on March 19, Boris Goncharenko confessed that he had prepared an incendiary mixture for Bogdan Abdurakhmanov, the second defendant in the criminal case. On April 19, Bogdan Abdurakhmanov confirmed the testimony given by Boris Goncharenko, saying that he was ready to carry out the plan alone. On May 28, Bogdan Abdurakhmanov claimed that he did not give the testimony that was read out earlier, but it had been written by an investigator.

Bogdan Abdurakhmanov’s recantation of his testimony given during the investigation calls into question the qualifications of the criminal case, explains Felix Wertegel, an advocate of Boris Goncharenko. “That was evidence that was quite important for the public prosecution, since it was on them that the charge of terrorism was based. And if it is removed, then only facts will remain, and it will be very difficult to prove the intent to commit a terror act. The charges can turn into hooliganism, damage to other people’s property, but not terrorism,” Felix Wertegel said.

The assessment of the Boris Abdurakhmanov’s statement remains at the discretion of a judge and depends on the circumstances of the criminal case, notes Dmitry Zair-Bek, the head of the association of lawyers and human rights activists “First Department”*.

“Cases can be considered in very different ways, but in general, the trend is not very good. In cases of such kind, judges are not very loyal to defendants, since, in the judges’ opinion, the crime with which the defendants are accused, is not harmless,” Dmitry Zair-Bek stated.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.