Karelian deputy accused of separatism is asked to be given two years probation

In the debate on the case of Karelian deputy Vladimir Zavarkin, accused of inciting to violate the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, the prosecution asked for a two-year suspended prison sentence with a two-year probationary period. This was reported by the online newspaper "Capital on Onego". The prosecutor considered that there were mitigating circumstances: the state of health of Zavarkin and his partial admission of guilt.

The reason for initiating a criminal case was Zavarkin's speech at a rally in Petrozavodsk demanding the resignation of the governor Alexander Khudilainen, where the deputy did not rule out the possibility of holding a referendum on the separation of Karelia from Russia. In the conclusions of specialists and experts commissioned by the investigation, it is stated that in Zavarkin’s words “there is a public call for the implementation of actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation” and “exciting statements were identified calling for the separation of the Republic of Karelia from the Russian Federation, expressed in a non-categorical form of a proposal ". On the contrary, experts from Nizhny Novgorod, who conducted a psychological and linguistic study of Zavarkin's speech at the request of the defense, stated that it "is not capable of influencing the behavior of mentally healthy people."

The video with the speech of the deputy was recognized as extremist material. Zavarkin believes that the real reason for the criminal prosecution is that he himself actively tried to achieve an investigation of crimes in which he suspects local officials of involvement.