MOSCOW. Oct 19(Interfax) - Moscow's Bassmanny Court has sanctioned the arrest of opposition activist Sergei Udaltsov aide Konstantin Lebedev on charges of inciting mass riots and ordered him to be held in custody until December 16, an Interfax correspondent reports.
The court granted the prosecution's request to place him in custody.
The judge found the charges brought against Lebedev legal, convincing and sufficient, agreeing that Lebedev could try to escape justice, destroy evidence of his guilt or put pressure on witnesses if he were released. She rejected the arguments of Lebedev's defense lawyers that the proof presented by the prosecution was inadmissible, reasoning that it can be evaluated during subsequent hearings.
Considering the severity of the charges and the circumstances of the case, it is impossible to opt for a milder measure of restraint for Lebedev, the judge ruled.
Lebedev's lawyers have ten days to appeal the ruling in a court of higher instance.
Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told earlier on Wednesday that the Investigative Committee had opened a criminal case against Udaltsov and a number of other opposition activists on charges of preparations for mass disorder, a crime covered by Criminal Code Articles 30 and 212.
The case has been opened based on analysis of allegations made in the documentary film Anatomy of Protest-2 that NTV television channel aired on October 5.
Other suspects, apart from Udaltsov, include Lebedev, Leonid Razvozzhayev, and others.
Experts conducted a sound analysis of Anatomy of Protest-2 as part of the inquiry. "The video materials do not show signs of editing. It has been determined that the voice heard in Anatomy of Protest-2, including in the scenes shot by a hidden camera, belongs to Udaltsov, and the meeting, fragments of which are shown in the film, took place in an apartment in the Belarusian capital of Minsk in the second part of June 2012," Markin said.
"Chairman of the Georgian parliamentary committee for defense and security Givi Targamadze, Georgian Consul to Moldova Mikhail Iashvili, and three of their aides took part in the meeting on the Georgian side. Participating from the Russian side were Left Front coordinator Udaltsov, his aide Lebedev and Razvozzhayev, an aide to State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomaryov," he said.