Yaroslav Belousov

Yaroslav Belousov is an activist of the Russian Civil Union and was an election observer. He was detained on 6 May 2012 on Bolotnaya Square, charged with disobedience to lawful demands of police officers and sentenced to arrest for 24 hours. However, a month later Belousov was arrested on criminal charges. As for the use of violence, he is accused of throwing an object (according to some investigators and prosecutors, a billiard ball, which he brought with him) at riot policeman Vladimir Filippov (at first he was accused of throwing stones and pieces of asphalt, breaking through the cordon and hitting representatives of the authorities). The video only shows Belousov picking up a certain object from the ground, most likely resembling a lemon, and throwing it aside (the prosecution claims that he threw the object "with aim", but Belousov is nearsighted and was without glasses at that moment), and this happens when Filippov is no longer around. The prosecution noted the "aggressive facial expression" on the video as evidence of Belousov's criminal intent. Belousov suffered a hypertensive crisis while in the pre-trial detention centre. He has a small child who was about to undergo a heavy operation, but the court did not consider this a reason to transfer Belousov under house arrest. Prosecutors in the debate asked to sentence Belousov to five years' imprisonment in a general regime colony. The defence lawyers insisted on his complete innocence. The Zamoskvoretsky court sentenced him to two and a half years in a general regime colony, while the Moscow City Court reduced the term by three months. About a month before the end of his sentence, Belousov was transferred to the Stavropol Territory. He was released on 8 September 2014.