Over 6,000 protocols on the discrediting of the Russian army were received by the courts in an hour

Since March last year, more than 6,000 administrative protocols on discrediting the actions of the Russian army have been submitted to Russian courts, Mediazona calculated.

The publication notes that the courts interpret the concept of “discrediting” extremely broadly, and cites as examples the protocols drawn up for the performance of songs by Ukrainian performers, a cry in support of Ukraine at a bus stop, and a retelling of a dream about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

At the end of last year, the editors of the human rights project “OVD-Info” calculated that since the beginning of the war, especially after the laws on criminal and administrative responsibility for so-called fakes about the Russian army and discrediting its actions were introduced in Russia in March, the authorities initiated more than 300 criminal cases against citizens for their anti-war stance.

As for administrative cases, by the end of last year, “OVD-Info” reported on more than five and a half thousand protocols received by Russian courts. Most of them – 701 cases – were considered in Moscow. St. Petersburg, Krasnodar Territory, Tatarstan and annexed Crimea were also included in the top five according to this indicator.

In addition, since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, at least 19,443 people have been detained in Russia for participation in anti-war rallies and pickets, for posts on social networks, and for expressing support for Ukraine in one form or another. This is a record number of people detained for political reasons over the past 10 years.