Natalia Bondareva

The first searches and initiation of a criminal case took place two and a half weeks after the rally of Vostochny Port employees on 2 June 2012; the case was initiated at the request of Anatoly Lazarev, managing director of Vostochny Port; in accordance with the collective agreement of the port, the owner of the transferred funds, which Bondareva was accused of embezzlement and misappropriation, was the primary public trade union organisation (POPO) of Vostochny Port JSC, the Russian Dockers' Trade Union (RDU) from the moment they were credited; neither during the investigation, nor in court, neither the primary trade union organisation, nor the RDU recognised themselves as victims of the actions of the defendants; the independent audit commission of the RPA conducted an audit of Bondareva's actions and did not reveal any misuse of the funds; in passing sentence, the court rejected the testimony of all defence witnesses, members of the Vostochny Port trade union, who confirmed the fact of purchase of gifts and refute the fact of embezzlement and misappropriation of funds allocated for their purchase; only the testimony of prosecution witnesses who stated that they did not receive gifts in cash or in kind was considered credible; on 15 December 2014, the Nakhodkinsk City Court of Nakhodka dismissed the testimony of all witnesses of the defence, members of the Vostochny Port trade union, who confirmed the fact of purchase of gifts and refute the fact of embezzlement and misappropriation of the funds allocated for their purchase 3 Art. 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (embezzlement or misappropriation using her official position, as well as on a large scale); sentenced to one year and two months' imprisonment in a general regime colony. Later, the court of appeal reduced the sentence by two months due to full compensation for material damage. In summer 2015, she was released on parole.