A Moscow court overturned sentencing to three and a half years in the controversial trial of actor Pavel Ustinov and turned it into a suspended sentence. The condemnation for participation in an unauthorized opposition rally in Moscow and violence against a police officer persisted.
The sentence was suspended on probation, according to the court of the agency Interfax. Ustinov, who was recently released under conditions of imprisonment, thus remains at large.
The 23-year-old Ustinov had pleaded for acquittal and stressed that he happened to be in town on the day of opposition protests. A video shows how he was attacked by policemen, thrown to the floor and beaten with a bang. The court still considered Ustinov's guilt proven.
Wide wave of solidarity with Ustinov
For the actor, there had been an unusually broad wave of solidarity in Russia, which was also followed by film stars and pastors. The critics were particularly angry that the court refused to consider video footage of Ustinov's arrest. The pictures show that the 23-year-old man is standing near a subway station with his cell phone in his hand, when policemen in full combat gear suddenly attack him and strike with truncheons.
The police and the judiciary have been criticized for weeks for proceeding with excessive hardship against participants in the demonstrations. There were thousands of arrests in the protests against the expulsion of dozens of prominent members of the city council on 8 September. Several participants were sentenced to imprisonment in the prison camp.
