The Moscow City Court has attached the video of actor Pavel Ustinov's detention at an unauthorised rally to his case, centring on accusations of violence against police.
During a hearing on Monday, the prosecution also asked for a suspended sentence for the actor, while the security officer who was reportedly injured during Ustinov's detention agreed with that request.
The 24-year-old was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison in mid-September after a lower court found him guilty of dislocating a policeman's shoulder. The incident is thought to have happened when members of Russia's national guard, Rosgvardia, attempted to detain him for violating public order during an unauthorised rally on 3 August.
Ustinov argued that he hadn’t even meant to participate in the protest – which took place when the city refused to register several would-be candidates who had hoped to participate in local elections in Moscow, and hadn't been agreed upon with the Moscow authorities – but was awaiting a business meeting scheduled to take place nearby.
The judge at the time refused the defence team's request to include the footage of the moment when Ustinov was detained in the case file, which, according to his lawyers, would prove that he did not resist the arrest and was unable to hurt the policeman.
Following the ruling, Ustinov's lawyers filed an appeal and demanded that all charges be dropped; Russia's Attorney General said the sentence was too harsh and proposed that Ustinov receives a suspended sentence instead of actual prison time.
Alexander Lyagin, the Rosgvardia officer who was reportedly injured during the detention, said the measure of restraint applied to the actor was “excessively brutal” but still insisted that he was guilty.
On 20 September, Ustinov was released, pending an appeal following a massive backlash over his conviction.
A number of Russia's pro-opposition politicians vying for seats in the Moscow City Duma, the city's legislature, organised mass protests and called for acts of civil disobedience after 57 independent candidates were not allowed to run over allegations of manipulating the signatures on their petitions.
