Lawyer Mikhail Benyash was fined for “discrediting” the army

In Krasnodar, the Pervomaisky District Court fined lawyer Mikhail Benyash 30,000 rubles for mentioning the word “war” in a Telegram channel. The court found him guilty under the administrative article on discrediting the Russian army.

The protocol for the lawyer was drawn up on November 15. The police found about 30 mentions of the word “war” in Benyasha’s nine publications made after February 24. Among them, among other things, are the following phrases: “It is impossible to treat war calmly” and “The word “war” is absolutely prohibited.”

Mikhail Benyash called the accusations “nonsense”, noted that the phrase “No war” is a traditional slogan of pacifists, demanding peace, stopping the killing of people, quotes the lawyer of “Mediazon”.

In the Telegram channel, Mikhail Benyash wrote that he could not attend the hearing due to the fact that he was forced on the same day, February 6, to attend the hearing of the criminal case brought against him in the second court of Krasnodar. “The choice was made in favor of the criminal case, because failure to appear there means a change in the measure of restraint, and I don’t want it,” explained the lawyer.

In April of last year, a protocol was drawn up on Benyasha to discredit the military because of the phrase “No war” on the Youtube channel “Protocol”. Later, the court closed the case, referring to the absence of an offense. The criminal case against Mikhail Benyash was initiated under the article on the use of violence against employees of law enforcement agencies. It is connected with protest actions in Kuban, the participants of which were defended by a lawyer. Benyash is accused of biting and hitting two operatives when he was detained before a rally against the pension reform in September 2018. The lawyer says that he was then beaten himself – first in the car, and then in the police station.