Russia’s Constitutional Court decides to reconsider Dadin’s sentence
Russia’s Constitutional Court has decided that Ildar Dadin’s sentence for repeatedly holding one-man protests in violation of protest rules should be reconsidered due to the fact that at the time of Dadin’s criminal proceedings, the law on his violation had not yet come into force.
Dadin was condemned for violating a Russian law on organizing “mass events” three times within a six-month period. He was sentenced to two and a half years in a prison.
The Constitutional Court’s decision, read out by chairman Valery Zorkin, stated that criminal liability for repeated violations can occur only when the laws governing the violations have come into effect in light of a valid court decision.
The court also emphasized that the mere fact of repeating a violation should not be a basis for criminal charges. It is, instead, necessary to prove that an act was socially dangerous. The Court also recommended that lawmakers introduce a corresponding amendment to Russia’s criminal codex.
Ildar Dadin was imprisoned for holding one-man protests – the first to be punished under new amendments to Russia’s criminal code. In December 2015, he was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.
On November 1, 2016, Meduza published a letter written by Dadin to his wife. In the letter, Dadin reveals the torture that he is enduring at the hands of prison authorities at penal colony number 7 in the town of Segezha.
After an investigation, the Federal Penitentiary Service claimed that there were no signs of torture on Dadin’s body.
Dadin letter had a wide resonance. With the prisoner met with Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova. Dadin refused to be transferred to another colony, saying that he is responsible to the other prisoners.
On December 5, it became known that Dadin had been transferred to another penal colony. Officially, the Federal Penitentiary Service did not notify Dadin’s relatives about his whereabouts, but his wife, Anastasia Zotova, learned that the prisoner had been transferred to the Kirov region.