Major charges brought against a man accused of plotting to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin have been dismissed by a Ukrainian court. The man, Adam Osmayev, had been charged as a terrorist for trying kill the Russian president, but is no longer considered to be a participant in a terrorist organization or to have prepared for the assassination of a statesman.
“The charges were dropped following numerous petitions I had filed requesting the court reopen the investigation into the case because Osmayev the allegations had not been proved that he participated in a terrorist organization or plotted to assassinate a government official,” stated Olga Chertok, Osmayev’s lawyer.
Osmayev still stands accused of several crimes, including entering Ukraine with forged documents, illegal manufacture of explosives and unintentional damage to property.
In 2012, a member of the group to which Osmayev belonged confessed the groups intentions to Ukrainian security officers after a bomb accidentally detonated in the apartment inhabited by the men. One of the three suspects in the crime, Chechen-born Ruslan Madayev was killed in the explosion.
Kazakh-born Ilya Pyanzin then confessed that he and his accomplices were preparing a bomb to assassinate Vladimir Putin–then prime minister of Russia. Reportedly, the men planned to detonate the bomb as Putin’s motorcade drove through Moscow.
In 2013, Pyanzin was found guilty in a Moscow court after extradition from Ukraine. He was sentenced to 10 years prison.
Chechen-born Osmayev was tried in Ukrainian court after he filed a human rights complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), protesting extradition. Last August, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General revoked an earlier decision to extradite Osmayev. When the ECHR asked Ukraine for its justification for handing over Osmayev to Russia, Ukraine did not maintain its position, according to Chertok.
The charges against Osmayev that were dropped included charges under Article 258 and 258-3 (the creation and participation in a terrorist organization and preparation for the assassination of a statesman) of the Ukrainian Criminal Code. Osmayev still faces up to five years prison for the lesser charges for which he remains accused.
By James Haleavy