More than 3,800 cases have been opened in Russia for discrediting the armed forces – an offense punishable by fines of up to one million rubles (more than 16,000 euros) – since the law was introduced last March, shortly after the start of the ‘special military operation against Ukraine, announced Ovd-Info, the NGO that provides legal assistance to opponents.
On the other hand, there are “dozens” open cases for the crime – with sentences of up to five years in prison – of having repeatedly discredited the military forces. And 90 cases for the even more serious crime of “disseminating false information”, a charge that can lead to 15 years in prison. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice has also compiled a guide in which it explains, as Kommersant makes known, that a “negative opinion” means discredit, and a “fact” of spreading false information.
Among the people convicted so far – the Moscow Times lists – there are, the deputy of the legislative assembly of Moscow Aleksei Gorinov, the first to be sentenced with this new law last month: he will have to serve seven years in prison for having questioned the organization of a children’s competition “while children are dying in Ukraine”.
45-year-old teacher Irina Gen, five years on parole for spreading false information. A Dj in Crimea, detained for ten days for discrediting his forces after playing a Ukrainian song in a karaoke bar. Archaeologist Yevgeny Kruglov, 46, was arrested on suspicion of spreading false information on social media.
Dmitry Chistyakov, former spokesman for the Ministry of Emergency Situations risks a fine of 50 thousand rubles for discrediting his forces, the Orthodox theologian Andrei Kuraev has received a fine of 30 thousand rubles. Opponents Ilya Yashin, 39, and Vladimir Kara-Murza, 40, arrested on suspicion of spreading false information, are in jail awaiting trial. Yevgeny Roizman, former mayor of Yekaterinburg, was arrested on Wednesday for repeatedly discrediting military forces. Then there are 14 journalists accused of spreading false news, denounced the lawyer, Stanislav Seleznyov. Among them, the security services expert, Andrei Soldatov.
“The article of law for which I am prosecuted (article 207.3, the one on the dissemination of false information) is an analogue of the infamous article 58 of the Stalinist penal code and of articles 70 and 190 of the Brezhnev code, with which they were detained dissidents “, Kara-Murza denounced, recalling that yesterday, when he appeared in front of the Basmanny court in Moscow – it was the anniversary of the day in which eight people protested on Red Square against the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
“They too have been tried as criminals, while what they have done is to save the honor of our entire society and country. Today, we remember their names. The shameful articles of the penal code have been abolished and these people have been rehabilitated. I have no doubt that this will also be the case with these shameful new articles of the law, “added the dissident, the victim of two different attempts at poisoning.
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