MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/: During a Monday court session, two police officers failed to identify an assailant who allegedly hurled a plastic bottle at them during the July 27 unauthorized protest in Moscow, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.
Police officer Andrei Vnukov, who is an injured party in the case, told Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court he did not see who had thrown the bottle, but he feared that it could have been filled with some kind of acid. "I was frightened and I felt that this could have posed a threat to my well-being. I believe I suffered moral damage," he insisted.
The second police officer was also unable to verify that Samariddin Radzhabov was the one who hurled the bottle.
Attorney Sergei Badamshin noted that earlier Vnukov was considered to be a witness in the case, but later he was recognized as a victim. Earlier, the prosecutor announced an indictment stating that Radzhabov had tossed the bottle towards the police and the officers "sensed fear and danger."
Radzhabov is currently being held in a pre-trial detention center on charges of attempting to use violence against an officer. According to investigators, he threw a plastic bottle with water towards the police. A video showed that the bottle tossed by Radzhabov did not hit the police officer, the lawyer said. Earlier, the case was sent back to the prosecution to eliminate inconsistencies related to locating the crime scene.
More than 3,500 people took part in the July 27 unauthorized rally in Moscow, according to law enforcement authorities. Police officers and the National Guard forces detained more than a thousand people. The Investigative Committee launched criminal cases into violence against an official and participating in civil unrest (Articles 318 and 212 of the Russian Criminal Code). Some 20 people were arrested during the investigation and some of them were sentenced.
