Ukraine lawmaker nabbed in Moscow is freed
Legal proceedings against in Russia against Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko, who was arrested during a memorial march in Moscow on Sunday honoring assassinated opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, have been quashed, and he has been released and retuned to Ukraine, Russian lawyer Mark Feygin told Interfax on Monday.
The Russian Investigative Committee had announced on Sunday that Honcharenko had been arrested for disobedience to police during the procession, but later the city police authority denied it still had any reason for legal action against him.
"The Moscow police force confirms officially that there is nothing under the jurisdiction of internal affairs [police] services that it can accuse Oleksiy Honcharenko of violating," the authority told Interfax. "He may leave the territory of the Russian Federation whenever he wishes to."
The summons to court that was issued to Honcharenko "was a preventive measure as he was a citizen of another country and might have left Russia, whereas extra time would have been necessary for the assessment of records and their procedural qualification," the authority said.
However, "on the basis of the assessment of all the circumstances, the Moscow police force cannot accuse Honcharenko of any offense," it said.