In Moscow, the court began to hear the case against a participant in the Radio Liberty poll

The Ostankino District Court of Moscow began to consider a criminal case about the so-called fakes about the Russian army against local resident Yury Kokhovets. The case was initiated after Kokhovets participated in one of Radio Liberty’s street polls.

The fact that the hearings have started follows from the database of Moscow courts, notes the edition of “Mediazon” on Thursday.

According to the SOTA.vision Telegram channel, at the first meeting, the public prosecutor read the written materials of the case and outlined the indictment. According to the text of the indictment, the defendant “expresses a negative attitude towards the “SVO” (as the Russian authorities call the invasion of Ukraine – RS), and characterizes the actions of the Russian army as criminal.” Thus, according to the indictment, Kokhovets “distributed knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.”

During the court session, Yury Kokhovets was not behind a glass barrier, as is often the case with those accused of “fakes”, but next to the lawyer. The accused is under a restraining order. Due to the absence of witnesses, the assistant prosecutor asked to postpone the hearing, reports SOTA.

Answering Radio Liberty’s questions during a street poll, Yury Kokhovets agreed in the summer of 2022. It became known about the criminal case against him in March of this year. During the interview, Kokhovets expressed his opinion about the actions of the Russian army in Ukraine. Among other things, he said that Russia was “bombing shopping centers, civilians were being shot in Buch… the military were shooting for no reason at all.” Kokhovets faces up to 10 years in prison.

• The Russian authorities call any information about the war in Ukraine different from the version of the Ministry of Defense of Russia “fakes”. The article about “fakes” about the army was added to the Criminal Code shortly after the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The punishment for it can be up to 10 years of imprisonment or a fine of up to five million rubles.
• In Russia, dozens of criminal and hundreds of administrative cases have been initiated against those who spread information about the murders of civilians during the Russian occupation of Bucha near Kyiv. Many defendants were sentenced to long prison terms.