On June, 16^th Leninskiy district Court of Smolensk have sustained the case of Taisiya Osipova against her detention facility administration. The court overruled the decision of acting governor of the detention facility, Ermoshko, to deny a medical examination. The court compelled the detention facility administration to ensure the medical examination about the diagnosis of diabetes. According to the court ruling, the administration must provide the escort to a defined medical institution, i.e. Smolensk Regional Hospital. It’s still possible, as we know from experience, that there will be pressure on the doctors assigned to do the expertise. However, up until now there was not even a minor failure in the machinery of state working against Taisia. All of her previous motions and complaints were denied by the court on farcical pretexts.

On June, 21^st the next hearing on Taisiya Osipova’s case will take place in the Zadneprovskiy district court of Smolensk. And the day before, on Monday June, 20^th from 17-00 to 19-00 there will be a picketing in support of Taisia in Moscow, near the monument of Griboedov (metro station “Tchistie prudi”)  

Taisiya Osipova’s husband Sergey Fomchenkov reports:

On May 23rd Leninskiy district court of Smolensk held another hearing on Taisiya Osipova’s civil lawsuit against prison administration. 

Taisiya is demanding a medical examination to confirm that she has serious medical conditions (type 1 diabetes and others). Such health conditions would constitute grounds for her release from pre-trial detention under the latest edition of article 110 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The lawsuit was initially filed as a reaction to a formal reply denying Taisia the medical examination, signed by deputy head of the prison A. I. Ermoshko.

At the very first hearing, the representative of the prison administration denied having any objections to having Taisiya examined. However, according to the defendant, the prison’s responsibility is limited to escorting the prisoner to and from the medical facility at which the examination is performed. The medical commission itself must be appointed by the Regional Health Department, which had failed to do so according to the defendant. Due to this, the court ruled to summon representatives of the Health Department and the Administration of Smolensk region.

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Opposition Leader’s Wife Fights Drug Dealing Charges

SMOLENSK — In 2003 teenager Taisiya Osipova became an overnight celebrity in her hometown of Smolensk when she smacked the governor with a bouquet of carnations to protest his policies.

Fast-forward to this year, and Osipova, now 25 and the mother of a 5-year-old daughter, is on trial on charges of drug dealing.

Investigators say Osipova was caught red-handed and may face up to 20 years in prison for selling heroin. But her supporters call the case a clumsy frame-up aimed at punishing her husband, an associate of outspoken Kremlin critic Eduard Limonov.

Osipova was detained last November after police declared they had found a stash of heroin during a search of her home. Investigators said they received a tip from one of her customers and bought 3,000 rubles ($100) worth of heroin from her with marked bills in a string operation.

But Osipova said the cash and the heroin were planted in her house to pressure her husband, Sergei Fomchenkov, a senior member of Limonov’s unregistered opposition Other Russia party.

Her belief appears bolstered by the fact that the officers from the police force’s anti-narcotics department who searched her house were accompanied by an officer from the force’s anti-extremism department, which monitors opposition groups.

Read the rest of the article

Today’s hearing is over. The next one will take place on June, 21st (the judge is going on vacation). Today the court reviewed motions of the defense. There was a lot of them, and nearly every single one was denied by judge Dvoryanchikov. Among other things, he ruled that the wiretaps of telephone conversations between Taisiya and her husband Sergey Fomchenkov could not be declassified. He also denied the motion to subpoena the head officer of Smolensk anti-extremism department, who had signed the order for the search in the house of Sergey’s parents.

Later, we’ll publish a detailed report on today’s hearing.

On Friday, April 29th the renowned Russian electroclash band Barto will be giving a concert in Smolensk in support of Taisiya Osipova. Taisiya is a political prisoner who is being held in a Smolensk jail on bogus drug charges despite suffering from serious medical conditions. The band’s leader Maria Lyubicheva has previously published a blog post calling for public attention to the case.

On Wednesday, April, 20th the second hearing on Taisiya Osipova’s civil suit against the administration of Smolensk Pre-Trial Detention Facility took place in Leninskiy District court of Smolensk. Deputy head of the facility, lt. col. Ermoshko, is acting as the defendant.

In February he signed a ruling that denied Taisiya Osipova a medical examination, which she had requested in order to confirm the diagnosis of a severe disease (type I diabetes).

On January 21st “Rossiyskaya gazeta” (the official state newspaper) published a government resolution that followed the recent amendments to article 110 of the Criminal Procedure Code. According to the amendments, people suffering from severe diseases should not be held in pre-trial detention.

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Free Voina continues to monitor the situation surrounding the trial of Taisiya Osipova, wife of Sergey Fomchenkov, one of the leaders of the opposition party Drugaya Rossia. Taisiya is facing 20 years in prison over bogus drug charges because of her husband’s political involvement. The following is Sergey Fomchenkov’s account of the two most recent court hearings.

On April 14th and 15th the trial of Taisiya Osipova, activist of Drugaya Rossia and a political prisoner, continued. The prosecution witnesses were questioned again. This time they were also shown video footage of the search.

I should mention that there is no objective proof of Taisiya’s guilt whatsoever. The whole case is based on written testimony of CCE (police Center for Combating Extremism, or Center E) agents, attesting witnesses who happen to be activists of pro-kremllin youth organisations Nashi and MGER, and a special classified witness under assumed name “Timchenkova”. The latter admitted in her testimony her acquaintance with the police officers. All the written testimonies look like carbon copies of the same text, down to every last comma.

According to the case file, there had been no video recording of the controlled buy. The “buyer”, Timchenkova, had not been supplied with video or audio recording facilities to tape her conversation with Taisiya during the alleged buy. Taisiya’s house had not been wiretapped. There had been no surveillance outside the house either. Not a single customer had been identified, let alone caught leaving Taisiya’s house with drugs. This is despite the fact that the Center E operatives claimed to have watched her for over a year while she was allegedly selling drugs out of her house.

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Katrina, Taisiya Osipova’s daughter, with Voina

The hearings will take place on April, 14th and 15th

The following media have already got accredited for the hearings

• Nasha Versiya
• The New Times
• The St. Petersburg Times
• Novaya gazeta
• Gazeta.ru
• Kommersant (represented by Oleg Kashin)
• Grani.ru
• Slon
• Radio Svoboda

Accreditation in progress: Echo Moscow, MK-St. Petersburg, The Moscow Times, RIA Novosti, REN-TV, Esquire, saint-petersburg.ru

The news site besttoday.ru is also monitoring the case.

The hearing will take place in Zadneprovskiy district court. Address: Smolensk, Pr. Gagarina, 15. Judge Dvoryanchikov  E. N.

To get in, you should call (4812)38-32-20, name the media, ask when the verdict will be announced, let them know you’re sending the reporter. Then you should send a request to the fax no (4812)38-78-59 and to e-ail address zadnepr.sml@sudrf.ru

A report of Leonid Nikolaev, activist of Voina, on his trip to Smolensk, where he attended the trial of political activist Taisiya Osipova.

My trip to Smolensk was great! Except for the sad reason, and some complications on the road. The bus died right before the departure, like if people from anti-extremism department have blown the tyres :) So I went alone, without cameramen, and took another road, the one through Belarus.

I was trying to get there in time for the beginning, at 9-30, and arrived 30 minutes ahead. Then, it turned out, the hearing was moved to 10-30. Right away I contacted Lena, reporter of gazeta.ru, and we spent the time before the hearing in the nearest coffee-shop. Like anywhere in Smolensk, there was no wi-fi and no outlets, so excuse me being offline all the time.

I told the journalist that the process was despicable, the whole situation where the drugs are planted, and the state was taking a mother away from her child, was the most bold and cruel case of political persecution at the moment. I came to express myself, as a citizen, to make a stand by attending the hearing.

Taisiya’s husband, Sergey Fomchenkov, is one of the leaders of Drugaya Rossia, the opposition party obsessively haunted by the authorities. He was being pressured for a long time, but it was not so easy to scare him, so they turned to Taisiya. I’d say, the state just took her hostage, so that the husband and the party would be more compliant.

I had read a lot about this case before I went to Smolensk, and when I attended the hearing, I witnessed a bold, crude falsification. The cop that appeared in court as a witness, Smolin, threatened Taisiya and was obviously lying. Here are some details.

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