Russia's Supreme Court has overturned the acquittal of the so-called "Primorye Partisans," a group accused of multiple murders, robberies, and attacks on police stations in Russia's Far East.
Although initially convicted in 2014, five members of the group were acquitted during a retrial held in July 2016. The jury determined that the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence to prove the defendants guilty in the robbery and murder of four people in the Primorye region's Kirov district.
Upon acquittal, two of the five defendants were released from custody, while the other three remained incarcerated for previous convictions.
The prosecution appealed the acquittal, arguing that the judge in the July trial had excluded certain evidence that might influence the jury.
Now that the Supreme Court has sided with the prosecution, the case will be tried once again.
The so-called "partisans" – who presented their crimes as retribution for abuses by local police – were captured in Ussuriisk in June 2010. Members of the group violently resisted capture. During their arrest, two police officers were injured and two members of the group committed suicide.
Read about the trial of the 'Primorye Partisans'
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