"Threats began to come right away": the first case of "coronaviral fake"

“I am interfering with many here-I write requests to the prosecutor’s office, I cover the district issues in the media, I even ran for municipal deputies. I was threatened more than once. Apparently, this time they decided to really get rid of,” says the 39-year-old Petersburg activist Anna Shushpanova to the correspondent of Sever. Realiy.

She is a member of the territorial election commission No. 13 of the resort district, works in the field of organizing events. Shushpanova became the first person involved in the case of the distribution of fake information about coronavirus under the new article 207.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. President Putin signed this law on April 1, and on April 3, they came home to Shushpanova with a search. This is the first case of the “coronavirus fake” in Russia, the maximum punishment for it provides for up to five years in prison.

There was no personal assessment in the post

The reason for his excitement was the post in the Sestroretsk News community, VKontakte, published late in the evening of April 2, says Shushpanova. "The essence came down to the fact that on April 1, a citizen with signs of coronavirus turned to the Polyclinic, he contacted doctors and other visitors. Later it turned out that his test was positive, but for some reason he was released. I wrote that he had left for public transport. Later in the comments, the woman corrected me, noting that he left in her car," Anna Shushpanova says to the site. North. Realia.

The publication also said that the head of the department of the clinic was forced to quit at their own free will. “There was no personal assessment there. At the end there was a postscript:“ If you know something about this story, tell me, please. ”I expected that the information would be updated,” she says.

Shushpanova proposed this news to the administrator of the group. He published, noting it as an author. The story of the case in the hospital, according to her, was told by Andrei Romanov . Where did he get such data, he did not tell her. Shushpanova believes that his source is one of the employees of the clinic.

“I know Romanova personally, he is actively interested in the city and district agenda, writes for various St. Petersburg portals. In general, he can be trusted,” the activist says.

She did not think that her post can fall under the new article on the spread of fake information, since she "heard a glimpse of the innovation."

I would not want to become infected due to the wrong actions of the clinic employees

That the information transferred to the activist may turn out to be inaccurate, and her publication will lead to initiating a criminal case, Andrei Romanov did not think.

“I didn’t know about such a law,” he claims. From whom he learned about what happened in the clinic, Romanov does not speak, but does not doubt the reliability of the information received.

- I recognized this on April 1 and on the same day turned to the administration of Sestroretsk to be checked. Then he called the hotline on coronavirus issues, they also promised to check it; wrote the appeal to the governor of St. Petersburg Beglov, ”says Romanov. -I understood that some details in this story could be distorted, and wanted to figure it out. I live in Sestroretsk with four minor children, they are all sitting on the quarantine of the house. I would not want to become infected due to the wrong actions of the clinic. If I hadn’t contacted anywhere and asked to check the information, it could be considered a fake, but before asking Anna to publish it, I turned to all instances.

His only mistake in this story, he believes that he did not check her post before publication. It turned out to be inaccuracies: Shushpanova wrote that they were forced to quit the head of the department at her own free will, in fact, it was a doctor who refused to take patients for hospitalization without analysis for coronavirus, Romanov notes.

He has known Shushpanov for a long time, often sees her posts in the group. Once she helped him illuminate in the media another regional history. “Therefore, this time I decided to turn to Anna again. I called her, spoke in detail about what happened and asked to publish a post, and also, if possible, attract the attention of the media,” he says.

Shushpanova planned to send information about what happened in the media on April 3. She wrote a press release, but the news did not have time to reach the journalists. On the same evening they came to her with a search.

“Threats began to come immediately after the publication. Someone wrote that he would complain about the extension of fakes. The other said that he had already complained and soon“ came for me. ”I didn’t react to it because I received threats before. Usually it didn’t reach the council in the comments,” says Anna.

I wanted to pay attention to the problem so that the leadership of the clinic solve it

In her opinion, the leaders of the clinic could see her post. Knowing about the activist activities of Shushpanova, they were frightened there and decided to complain. “Why did they come to me with a search, I don’t know,” the activist adds. According to her, after threats under the post, people who confirmed that such a case really was. One woman said that in the clinic at that time was her husband, who told her this story.

“In fact, my post simply repeated Romanov’s comments, which he left for another publication in the same group the day before. I just told the story more structured,” says Shushpanova. Comments under the post have been preserved so far.

According to her, she did not try to punish doctors who are already in a difficult situation in connection with coronavirus. “I understood that if this case occurred once, it will happen again-and visitors to the clinic could become infected. I wanted to pay attention to this problem so that the leadership took some measures,” she notes.

During the searches, the resolution was shown only Shushpanova. She lives with her sister and mother. The sister, according to the activist, began to demand that the investigators show documents to her. They did not do this. “The threats began to continue. The sister said that they could hold her accountable for the obstruction of the investigative actions. As a result, she was taken for interrogation with me,” says Shushpanova.

Basically, the sister found out what social activities Anna was engaged in. She talked about the protection of squares, parks and beaches. But, signing the testimony, I saw that there was only a "passion for politics." Sister had to ask this expression several times to remove, adds Shushpanov.

So far, Shushpanov and Romanov, to whom the police came on Sunday appear in the criminal case. He refused to testify, taking advantage of Art. 51 of the Constitution.

Now I understand that you need to check the information more thoroughly

The news in the group is a 40-year-old resident of Sestroretsk. By profession, he is a handyman, the group became his main hobby. He has been leading it for about eight years. “For all this time, no similar story happened. I usually check the news before the publication: I look at which account they were sent from the fakes. I don’t accept anything from the fake, I miss messages through the search engines,” the North Sever. The Administrator of the Sestroretsk group, who asked not to indicate his last name. According to him, the police did not come to him with searches.

He admits that he did not expect this post to lead to initiation of a criminal case. “The author of the news from which Anna received information was not hidden, besides, he reported an incident to all instances,” the group explains.

Lawyer Pavel Yasman , defending Shushpanov, Says that To predict how this story will end is still difficult, since the law only entered into force. "Under this article, there is still neither judicial practice nor the legal position of the Supreme Court. So far, we intend to appeal to the Constitutional Court to find out whether this norm meets the provisions of the Constitution," says Yasman.

The fact that the criminal case was not instituted against a particular person, but in fact, already well, he believes. “Everything can end with the fact that they will not bring anyone to criminal liability, and the case will be closed due to the lack of corpus delicti,” the defender hopes.

According to lawyer Alexander Ostrovsky, this may well be, since it is important to close all their mouths to all, preventing the spread of panic rumors: as soon as the epidemic ends, these matters can really stop.

- As soon as the new law appears, the security forces act according to the “fell - squeezed out” scheme, looking for everywhere, to catch on to show their work. In the current situation of forced isolation, the nerves of everyone to the limit, people acutely react to the fact that in ordinary life they would not even notice, any hearing will excite, since there is no way to check something on their own, ”Ostrovsky explains. - And the security forces need reports, not objective information: it is easier to initiate a business on the author of the news than to find confirmations and witnesses, that it was so. And there will be more and more such cases, since the pandemic of coronavirus in Russia only in the initial stage, so it is now better to reduce social activity, which, in fact, achieve the authorities.