TALLINN - Yuri Zhuravlyov, who appeared in Brussels in June to speak about alleged torture of participants by police during the April 2007 'bronze soldier' riots, was in fact one of the instigators of the looting of a food store , the Postimees newspaper claims.
In the indictment filed against Zhuravlyov on Nov. 14, it is recorded that on the night of April 26 he on two occasions threw a wooden shelf against the glass windows of the Westmann store in Parnu Road , as a result of which the windows and goods displayed in the windows were broken.
"Together with other individuals he smashed the glass door of the Westmann store and illegally entered the premises," prosecutor Leelet Kivioja cited from the part of the indictment that deals with the looting of the centrally located food and alcohol store, which suffered damage totalling 3 million kroons (192,000 euros) at the hands of vandals.
Zhuravlyov was one of the speakers during an event titled "Torture is Reality in Today's EU," held in Brussels in June at the initiative of Tatyana Zhdanok, a member of the European Parliament from Latvia.
Zhdanok visited Tallinn in April to support the actions of Night Vigil, an organization protesting about the relocation of a Soviet war memorial. the controversy surrounding the issue was what sparked the subsequent riots.
Zhuravlyov, who has described Russia's head of state Vladimir Putin as his president, was formally a suspect in Estoniaat the time of the Brussels event, as a photo from the first night of the riots obtained by the police shows him in a crowd in the midst of the havoc in Parnu Road carrying a box half filled with beer cans.
On the basis of that photo he is being accused also of illegally taking possession of property.
Zhuravlyov denies participation in the looting.
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