A resident of the Ryazan region was accused of repeatedly discrediting the army
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A resident of the city of Kasymov in the Ryazan Region was charged with repeated discrediting of the army for a joke about Kherson on the day of the withdrawal of Russian troops from the city last fall.
As the lawyer of the accused Vasiliy Bolshakov told RBC, his client published a joke on his VKontakte page on November 9, 2022. On this day, the head of the Ministry of Defense Sergei Shoigu ordered the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kherson and from the right bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region.
The previous time Bolshakov was fined in the summer of 2022 in the case of discrediting the army. Then his comment in “VKontakte” became the reason. A resident of Kasymov faces up to three years in prison.
The article on administrative responsibility for “discrediting the army” was introduced into the Russian administrative code in March of last year, shortly after Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Russian courts recognize any anti-war speeches or reports about the participation of Russian troops in probable war crimes as discreditable. The article provides for a fine of up to 50 thousand rubles. In case of repeated “discrediting”, the penalty increases to 100,000. In the case of repeated violations, the case may be reclassified into a criminal case.
According to human rights activists, since the beginning of the war in Russia, almost 20,000 people have been detained for their anti-war stance, more than 600 criminal cases have been initiated, of which more than 100 are based on the article about discrediting the army.
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