A pensioner was sent to a pre-trial detention center for “fakes”: he quoted a UN report

The Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow sent 63-year-old Konstantin Seleznev to pre-trial detention center for two months. He is accused of spreading so-called fakes about the Russian army.

Two posts published by Seleznyov in the VKontakte social network became the reason for the initiation of the case. In one post, he quoted from a UN report on crimes committed by Russian servicemen in Ukraine and from an investigation by The New York Times about the events in Buche, Kyiv region. The pensioner wrote an appeal to the Prosecutor General of Russia Ihor Krasnov with a request to conduct an investigation taking into account the published facts.

In the second post, he addressed the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, calling him “the head of the terrorist state.” Seleznyov criticized Putin’s decision to assign the title to the Guards 5th anti-aircraft brigade, pointing out that, according to the conclusions of the international investigative group, it was this brigade that owned the Buk air defense system, from which a passenger Boeing MH17 was shot down over the Donbass in 2014. 298 people died in the plane crash.

On October 3, the pensioner’s apartment was searched, he himself was detained and left for the night in a detention center.

During transportation to the court, Seleznev felt bad because of the stuffiness in the car park, he lost consciousness, reports “OVD-Info”. An ambulance was called to the court, which recorded a sharp increase in blood pressure. The judge announced a break for half an hour. After that, the meeting was closed due to the secrecy of the investigation at the request of the prosecution.

Konstantin Seleznev may face up to ten years in prison. Before retirement, he taught physics and mathematics. Seleznyov is married, he has two children.

• Articles about so-called fakes and the discrediting of the army appeared in the codes of Russia shortly after its invasion of Ukraine. Russian courts recognize as discrediting the message about the war in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation”, and any information different from the version of the Ministry of Defense of Russia is fake.
• According to “OVD-Info” estimates, at least 724 people have been prosecuted for their anti-war stance in Russia, including 215 against them for the article about fakes about the Russian army.