The paintings of St. Petersburg artist Elena Osipova are checked for “fakes”

The anti-war paintings of 77-year-old St. Petersburg resident Elena Osipova, which the police seized from the city office of the Yabloko party, are being checked for the initiation of a criminal case on the so-called fakes about the Russian army. This is stated in the response of the Prosecutor’s Office of St. Petersburg to the request of the deputy of the City Assembly Alexander Shyshlov.

The document reports that 19 paintings were seized, on which, according to the police, there are “textual inscriptions, probably containing false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” The police started an investigation in this regard and appointed a psychological and linguistic examination. It will end in August 2023, Sever.Realii reports.

After the investigation, the operative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs refused to open a criminal case about fakes due to the lack of a crime. But the prosecutor’s office appealed this refusal, the materials have already been sent to the Investigative Committee. The inspection has not yet been completed there.

“Unfortunately, the police, involved in the provocation organized by someone with the confiscation of Elena Osipova’s paintings, continue to demand that they “protect the honor of the uniform”, while threatening a criminal case about “fakes”, instead of admitting the committed violations and returning the paintings”, – MP Alexander Shyshlov commented.

On February 1, the police cordoned off the office of the Yabloko party, allegedly because of a call about the building being mined. Everyone who was in the office was taken outside. During the visit of the police, the “apple pickers” were preparing documents for the party’s candidates for municipal by-elections. As a result, the bomb was not found, but the paintings of the artist Osipova, whose anti-war exhibition opened the day before in the same room, were taken. The protocol stated that the pictures were seized because they may “contain knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” Dissemination of information, which the authorities recognize as knowingly false, can be punished under the criminal article on so-called fakes – it can lead to up to 10 years of imprisonment.

Elena Osypova is a St. Petersburg artist and activist, a participant in many protests, including against the war in Ukraine. The 77-year-old Osipova’s exhibition “Peaceful Art Protest” opened on January 31. It featured her works made in different years. Among them are posters against the bombings in Syria, posters from the time of the struggle of St. Petersburgers for the museum in St. Isaac’s Cathedral, as well as drawings of pacifist content – Osypova does not hide that she opposes Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.

“Yabloko” needed to open a criminal case about false mining and return the paintings, but they refused to open a case, since the investigator of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Tikhomirov could not establish the identity of the person who made the false call. At the same time, the investigator found out from which phone exactly they called with a message about mining. “Yabloka” lawyer Andrey Chertkov filed a complaint against the refusal to open a case, the prosecutor’s office satisfied it.