The Court of Cassation sent the case of Alexei Moskalev for reconsideration

The court of cassation in Saratov overturned the sentence of Alexei Moskalyov, who was sentenced in March to two years in prison on the charge of “discrediting the army”. The case is sent for a new consideration. Moskalev was transferred from the colony to the pre-trial detention center for two months.

RusNews reports that the prosecutor in court called the sentence handed down to Moskalyov “rather lenient” and that it was handed down with mitigating circumstances in mind. The prosecutor also mentioned that there is an aggravating circumstance in the case: the fact that the crime attributed to Moskalyov was committed “in the conditions of an armed conflict.”

Moskalyov’s lawyer, Vladimir Biliyenko, stated that the “conditions of an armed conflict” cannot be considered an aggravating circumstance, since there are no hostilities in the Tula region, where Moskalyov lived. “It is possible to indicate military actions as an aggravating circumstance when stealing a chicken somewhere in Chukotka,” said Bylyenko. In addition, he noted that the defense does not consider the crime proven, and Moskalyov himself did not admit guilt.

• Single father Aleksey Moskalyov from the city of Efremov, Tula region, came under the attention of law enforcement agencies after his 13-year-old daughter Masha drew an anti-war picture at school in the spring of 2022, in which a woman with a Ukrainian flag protects a child from missiles with her body. The school principal contacted the police. The Moskalyovs’ apartment was searched.
• In the father’s social networks, the police found comments in support of Ukraine, as well as caricatures of Russian President Vladimir Putin. After that, Alexey Moskalyov was first charged with an administrative article on discrediting the Russian army, fined 32,000 rubles, and then a criminal case was opened on the same charge. After Moskalyov’s arrest, his daughter was first sent to an orphanage, and then given to her mother, who had not lived with her family for many years and was not involved in raising the girl.
• Alexey Moskalyov was sentenced to two years in prison on charges of discrediting the Russian army. He did not admit guilt. Moskalyov is serving his sentence in a colony in the Tula Region. There, he had already been placed in a detention center five times.