A pre-investigation check is underway in St. Petersburg for calling for lustration

The Department of the Investigative Committee for the Primorsky District of St. Petersburg may open a criminal case against Lev Dmitriev, a member of the St. Petersburg political council of the PARNAS party. The reason for the actions of the investigators was his phrase about lustration, said in the courtroom on January 26 after the decision on the fine, said Kasparov . Ru press service of the party.

The court session was held in the case of an administrative offense opened against activists Dmitriev and Andrey Yermachenkov after the opposition action on the “day of the Chekist” on December 21. On one of the bridges in St. Petersburg, the protesters unfurled a banner with a portrait of Vladimir Putin and the slogan: “Crisis. Inevitable! Winter! Is yours!". Judge Alla Ermakova found Dmitriev guilty and fined him 10,000 rubles. She refused to take into account the arguments of the defense and to verify the authenticity of photos from the action and information from screenshots from social networks. No other evidence of the activist's guilt in this case was presented in court.

After the announcement of the decision on punishment, Dmitriev said: “You are now the first judge in Russia to issue a ruling on a fine based on a photograph. When the regime changes, lustration awaits you. You will work as a janitor. Your name will become a household name, as the Basmanny Court became a household name.

The judge called the bailiffs, who took Dmitriev to their premises and for about three hours drew up a protocol under Article 17.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (“failure to comply with the order of the judge or bailiff to ensure the established order of the courts”). Then the judge wrote a statement under Art. 297 of the Criminal Code (“contempt of court”). Dmitriev was informed about the opening of a pre-investigation check.