Europäischer Menschenrechtsdialog

Memorial demands the immediate release of Roman Pichuzhin and a review of his conviction.

Roman Pichuzhin is a defendant in the so-called ‘Palace Case.’ He has been charged with assaulting a National Guard officer at a rally on 31 January in support of Aleksei Navalny.
On 2 March 2021 Pichuzhin was arrested as he left a detention centre where he had been serving a 30-day jail sentence for an offence under administrative law.

The next day a court remanded him in custody on charges of violence against a public official (Article 318, Part 1, of the Russian Criminal Code).

According to the Investigative Committee, Pichuzhin ‘struck a riot police officer in the torso with his fist.’ The defence insists Roman did not intend to physically hurt the law enforcement officer and, as a matter of fact, did not strike the officer but pushed him away from a person who had been detained.

On 29 June 2021 Moscow’s Meshchansky district court sentenced Pichuzhin to two years in a general regime colony. The harsh sentence was handed down despite a series of mitigating circumstances, including the fact that Pichuzhin has a young child and himself suffers from epilepsy.

We believe Pichuzhin’s actions on 31 January would be classified more accurately as a push rather than a blow.

Despite the fact that, formally, Pichuzhin’s actions may meet the definition of a crime under Article 318 of the Russian Criminal Code, in our view it is important to consider them in the context of the events of 31 January, as well as to take into account the reaction of the law enforcement and judicial systems.

Roman Pichuzhin was detained at a protest in solidarity with the politician Aleksei Navalny, who had first been the victim of an assassination attempt with a weapons-grade poison and then was imprisoned in a politically motivated prosecution on charges fabricated against him. The mass protests across Russia in January 2021 were a legitimate outcome of public outrage.

Violence was widely used against participants in the winter protests. Police and National Guard officers severely injured dozens of people. This has been documented in photos and videos and confirmed by medical documents. Nevertheless, not a single law enforcement officer has been prosecuted. Moreover, there is no evidence that cases of violence against protesters have been investigated in any way, even in the most egregious cases.

We believe the selective nature of Pichuzhin’s prosecution demonstrates clear bias on the part of the Russian authorities.

It is evident to us that, if Pichuzhin had committed the exact same acts in a different context, and not at a public protest, he would not have been remanded in custody and then sentenced to a term in prison. Most likely, there would have been no criminal case against him at all.

We believe the punishment imposed on Pichuzhin is selective and does not correspond to the real public danger presented by his actions.

More information about the case of Roman Pichuzhin and the position of Memorial Human Rights Centre is available on our website.

Recognition of an individual as a political prisoner does not imply Memorial Human Rights Centre agrees with, or approves of, their views, statements, or actions.