News digest for July 14

Criminal cases due to publications on social networks, pressure on Jehovah’s Witnesses and the dismissal of charges in a “sanitary case” against municipal deputy Konstantin Jankauskas. About the main news for July 14 - in the OVD-Info digest.

• In Novosibirsk, the court sentenced the defendant in the “palace case” Togrul Ismailov to a year of restriction of freedom. He was found guilty of inciting mass riots due to a publication in a telegram chat.
• The Investigative Committee stopped prosecuting municipal deputy Konstantin Jankauskas in a “sanitary case.” He was accused of inciting violations of sanitary and epidemiological rules, which created a threat of mass disease among people.
• The court refused to replace Ruslan Kostylenkov, a defendant in the “New Greatness” case, with the unserved part of his sentence with a more lenient sentence. In August 2020, he was sentenced to six years and nine months in a general regime colony under the article on organizing the activities of an extremist community.
• Bashkir politician Airat Dilmukhametov, sentenced to nine years in prison on several counts, was transferred to a colony in the Trans-Baikal Territory.
• Blogger Yuri Khovansky, accused of publicly justifying terrorism because of a song about “Nord-Ost,” was refused to change the preventive measure. He will remain in custody until at least August 8.
• Those involved in the case of the rally in Vladikavkaz in 2020 will also remain in the pre-trial detention center: opera singer Vadim Cheldiev and the administrators of his telegram channel Ramis Chirkinov and Arsen Besolov. Cheldiyev is accused under five articles of the Criminal Code, one of which - organizing hooliganism - is also charged against Chirkinov and Besolov.
• Two Jehovah's Witnesses were sentenced under the article on organizing the activities of an extremist organization: a believer from the Rostov region, Olga Ganusha, was given a two-year suspended sentence, and her co-religionist from the Amur region, Konstantin Moiseenko , was given a suspended six-year sentence. Jehovah's Witness from Izhevsk Maxim Derendyaev had his preventive measure softened.
• In Karelia, a case was opened regarding the rehabilitation of Nazism against a local resident. The grounds for criminal prosecution were posts on social networks.
• The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against a resident of the Arkhangelsk region due to comments on VKontakte on the news about an explosion in the FSB building in 2018. He is charged with justifying terrorism.
• The former head of Navalny’s headquarters in Murmansk, Violetta Grudina, was forcibly hospitalized . In early July, a criminal case was opened against her under an article on violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules.
• A court in St. Petersburg dismissed two administrative cases opened against participants in January protests in support of Alexei Navalny. The interests of the activists were represented by defenders from OVD-Info.