Sergei Udaltsov, leader of the Vanguard of Red Youth movement and coordinator of the left-wing radical organization Left Front, a well-known Russian oppositionist, was sentenced on June 27, 2012 by a court in the city of Ulyanovsk to compulsory work for 240 hours. Udaltsov, whose name can be heard more and more often in the news, can be safely called a prominent political figure, all the more surprising that the reason for the punishment was his beating of a journalist.
The incident occurred on April 21 during an opposition rally in Ulyanovsk, which gathered to protest against the deployment of a NATO cargo transit center, which protesters call a "NATO base".
After the rally, Udaltsov began talking to journalists, including Anna Pozdnyakova, an activist in the pro-Kremlin Nashi movement. According to her version, during an interview, when she was filming Sergei on a mobile phone, he, having learned that she was a supporter of the Young Guard, hit her twice.
At the same time, the girl described that the blows were so strong that the mobile phone fell out of her hands and even the watch flew off. Subsequently, Anna Pozdnyakova wrote a statement to the police and confirmed the fact of beating with a medical report, which recorded the fact of beatings and concussion. As material evidence, the filming of an interview was used, during which Pozdnyakova constantly asked the question: "Sergey, are you starving?", To which Udaltsov first answered. After he asked Pozdnyakov not to interfere and move away, it is clear that someone is closing the lens and Anna's screeching is heard, after which the receding back of Sergei is visible in the lens.
Udaltsov immediately called the incident a provocation and a lie. According to his version, he did not touch the journalist and, in response to her statement, left his own, in which he accused Anna of false denunciation. An indirect proof of his innocence is a video posted on the Internet, in which the triumphant Pozdnyakova with a watch on her hand, jumping up and down with joyful excitement, boasts: "Guys, Udaltsov hit me, can you imagine!" In a ruddy and mobile girl with eyes burning with joy, it is difficult to suspect a victim beaten to a concussion, a head injury did not affect her well-being in any way. It was probably post-traumatic stress disorder.
However, the court did not take into account either this video or Udaltsov's statement and on June 27 sentenced him under Part 1 of Art. 116 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Anna Pozdnyakova can sleep peacefully, just like her conscience - the scoundrel who beat the journalist and the woman is punished in all the justice of the law.
