Mendeleyeva Olesya

Judge of the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow.

Carrying out political repression using her official position.

In April-May 2019, Judge Mendeleeva fined two human rights organizations of Lev Ponomarev, Hot Line and In Defense of the Rights of Prisoners, for 300 thousand rubles ($5,000). Both organizations were fined for refusing to label themselves as “foreign agents.”

On September 4, 2019, she sentenced Yevgeny Kovalenko, the defendant in the Moscow Case to 3 years and 6 months in a penal colony. Moscow Case is criminal prosecution of participants of rallies in summer 2019 in Moscow against the government’s refusal to register independent candidates in the upcoming elections to the Moscow City Duma. Kovalenko was charged with two episodes of alleged violence against a government official: during the rally, he pushed a police officer in the back and threw the rubbish bin towards the police officers, who detained other protesters. According to Kovalenko, although he threw the rubbish bin, he didn’t hit anyone and therefore did not cause any harm. However, Judge Mendeleyeva considered his guilt proven and sentenced him to a real term of imprisonment.

On September 18, 2019, Judge Mendeleyeva granted the petition of the prosecutor to return the criminal case of another defendant in the Moscow Case, Aidar Gubaidulin, for further investigation. Initially, Gubaidulin was accused of participating in the riots (part 2 of article 212 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), but then he was charged with attempted violence against a representative of the authorities (part 3 of article 30 and part 1 of article 318 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Gubaidulin was arrested on August 9, the same day he was charged. At the election of a preventive measure, the judge said that on the video from the case file Gubaidulin was swinging a plastic bottle towards the police officer.

On December 24, 2019, Mendeleyeva sentenced Yevgeny Yerzunov, accused of threats to the judge of the Tverskoy District Court Alexei Krivoruchko (Part 1 of Article 296 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The criminal case was triggered by a tweet after Krivoruchko had sentenced Pavel Ustinov, in which Yerzunov warned Krivoruchko to “turn around” and allegedly threatened him. According to Judge Mendeleva, on September 16, Krivoruchko got acquainted with this tweet and perceived the threat realistically. As a result, the judge imposed a fine of 110 thousand rubles to Yerzunov.

On November 1, 2019, Mendeleyeva began to consider the case of Kirill Serebrennikov’s Seventh Studio. Just entering this case, she immediately set the fast and tough pace of the trial, setting up a daily schedule of court hearings, thereby depriving the defendants and their lawyers of the opportunity to rest between court sessions. On December 19, this judicial marathon finally stopped when Judge Mendeleyeva appointed the third examination in the case, which allowed the participants to take a break from the permanent trials.