The Supreme Court did not consider refusal to give a phone password as evidence of guilt

Supreme Court satisfied an appeal against the verdict of the Voroshilovsky District Court in Volgograd in the case of Roman Kasenkov, sentenced to 10 years in a maximum security colony on charges of attempting to sell drugs on a large scale. The Supreme Court changed the sentence to 3 years and 3 months of general imprisonment, ruling that the evidence collected by the prosecution violated the presumption of innocence. In December 2021, the Volgograd district court accepted Roman Kasenkov’s refusal to unlock his phone as evidence of guilt.

According to the case materials, Roman Kasenkov was detained on December 21, 2020. Eight packages of mephedrone (total weight 3.512 grams) were found on him. The courts of the first and appellate instances rejected the defense’s arguments that the suspect purchased drugs for his own use and did not plan to sell them. According to the verdict, evidence of Roman Kasenkov’s guilt was his refusal to provide police with passwords to the seized phones, as well as the fact that he was detained in a place where “drug stashes were often made.” The prosecution also considered evidence that the packages with mephedrone found during the search were “in packaging convenient for sale.”

According to the Supreme Court ruling, police testimony shows that Roman Kasenkov did not take “active steps” aimed at arranging the caches. The resolution notes that the materials of his case contain no information about Kasenkov’s connections with drug suppliers or users. During a search of his house, no equipment for packaging drugs was found.

The courts of the first and appellate instances sentenced Kasenkov under paragraph “g” of Part 4 of Art. 228.1 (illegal production, sale or transfer of narcotic drugs). The Supreme Court changed the measure of restraint and sentenced him to 3 years and 3 months in a general regime colony under Part 2 of Art. 228 (illegal acquisition, storage, transportation of narcotic drugs). Part of the sentence Kasenkov has already served will be counted towards a new term of imprisonment, calculating one day in a high-security penal colony for 1.5 days in a general-regime penal colony. The time spent in custody (at the rate of one day in custody for one day in a penal colony) and while under house arrest (at the rate of two days of house arrest for one day in prison) are also counted.

Polina Motyzlevskaya