MOSCOW, April 3 (RIA Novosti) – An aide to Russian State Duma opposition deputy Ilya Ponomaryov has been detained in last year’s riots case, investigators have said.
“During mass disorders, Dmitry Rukavishnikov was pushing overturned portable toilets in the direction of police officers, which resulted in the property being damaged and becoming unfit for use,” the Investigative Committee said Tuesday.
“By this, Rukavishnikov created obstacles on the way of law enforcement officers. Rukavishnikov’s participation in mass disorders is confirmed by a video recording, witness testimony and other case materials,” the committee said.
Investigators said Rukavishnikov is the head of a Left Front branch in the Ivanovo Region.
The mass riots took place at a Moscow protest rally on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration last May for a third presidential term. The rally ended in violent clashes between protesters and the police. Over 400 people were arrested and scores were injured when protesters briefly broke through police lines in a bid to take their protest to the Kremlin walls.
Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov, two other activists Leonid Razvozzhayev and Konstantin Lebedev and Georgian lawmaker Givi Targamadze have been charged with organizing the riots. The four men deny the charges. Udaltsov and Lebedev are under house arrest. Razvozzhayev remains in custody. Targamadze has reportedly been put on an international wanted list on Russia’s request.
One of the May 6, 2012 protest rally participants, Maxim Luzyanin, was sentenced last November to four and a half years in prison for fighting with the police.