Moscow courts block journalists and relatives from accessing hearings in ‘rioting’ cases against protesters

Moscow’s Tverskoy and Presnensky Courts have blocked access to the floors in their buildings that are being used on August 26 for preliminary hearings in the “mass rioting” case against Moscow election protesters Danil Beglets and Vladislav Sinitsa. Journalists from Mediazona who arrived at both courthouses were denied access to the hearings: Bailiffs said they had closed the hearings to observers due to a court order. Beglets’s wife and Sinitsa’s mother were also prohibited from entering their respective courtrooms.

Beglets has pleaded guilty to attacking a Russian National Guard officer during Moscow’s July 27 protest for free elections. He has also asked for his case to be considered on an expedited track without an examination of the evidence against him.

Investigators accuse Vladislav Sinitsa of “inciting hatred against law enforcement officials” because he posted a tweet that called for reducing police anonymity. He has entered a not guilty plea.