MOSCOW — Yaroslav G. Belousov, a political science student, found himself in the center of the mayhem last year when a rally against Vladimir Putin, then the prime minister, unexpectedly turned violent.
As protesters grappled with riot police officers in helmets swinging truncheons, investigators say, Belousov “threw rocks and pieces of asphalt, broke through the cordon and attacked police officers.”
Some of his supporters, citing video evidence, say he threw only a lemon.
Belousov, 21 and the father of a 2-year-old son, had no previous criminal record, but he has been in jail for a year and could serve 12 more years if convicted on all counts. He is one of a dozen participants in the May 6, 2012, demonstration — representing a cross section of the middle-class Muscovites who turned decisively against Putin — whose trial opened Thursday. Legal experts say they face stiff sentences and slim chances of acquittal.
What sets the case apart from a series of recent political prosecutions in Russia is that not one of the defendants was a high-profile opposition leader when arrested. Most are unknown to the public, and their prosecution seems intended as a sharp warning to other ordinary Russians, especially educated professionals, about taking part in street protests.
“When they arrest not the leaders, not the heads of the opposition, but the ordinary people representing different social strata, of different ages and views, when these people are just being pulled out, this is, of course, intimidation,” Tamara Belousova, Belousov’s wife, said.
The case against Yaroslav Belousov and his co-defendants, along with a barrage of criminal cases against opposition leaders, has succeeded in suppressing the protest movement, as its initial enthusiasm has been overtaken by fear and exhaustion.
But Tamara Belousova, 21, also a political science student, predicted that ultimately the government’s strategy would backfire.
“Because it causes indignation,” she said. “Our child is 2 years old, and he hasn’t seen his father for a whole year. The cruelty is absolute and unjustified.”
Dmitry V. Agranovsky, a lawyer who is representing Yaroslav Belousov and a second defendant, Vladimir Akimenkov, said in a telephone interview that the lengthy pretrial detention of most of the defendants was proof of the political nature of the charges.
“It’s not normal or regular that these people have been held for about a year,” Agranovsky said.
