In Penza, a pensioner was fined in a case of discrediting the Russian army

The court in Penza fined pensioner Nikolai Hutsenovich 100,000 rubles in the criminal case of discrediting the Russian army. The reason for this was 18 reactions under the posts in the Odnoklassniki social network. This is reported by “OVD-Info” with reference to lawyer Stanislav Fomenko.

The prosecution asked to fine the pensioner 120 thousand rubles. Hutsenovich stated at the court hearing that he did not intend to discredit the Russian army, but expressed his opinion in accordance with Article 29 of the Constitution.

A criminal case against the pensioner was initiated in February of this year. According to the investigation, he posted reactions to publications on social networks in which the actions of the Russian army in Ukraine were “characterized as criminal, invasive”. After that, the posts were duplicated on his “Classmates” page and “were available for viewing by an indefinite circle of people.”

In March 2022, Gutsenovich was fined 30,000 rubles under an administrative article on discrediting the army. Then he went to the picket with a poster that read “No war” and a quote from the bard Alexander Halych’s song “The Fatherland is in danger, our tanks are on someone else’s land.”

• The administrative article on the discrediting of the army was adopted eight days after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It provides fines from 30 to 50 thousand rubles for public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Russian Armed Forces in a “special military operation” (that’s how the Russian authorities call the war in Ukraine). Criminal liability is provided for repeated violations. She also appeared in the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.