Human rights activists: 60 criminal cases have been opened in Russia due to protests after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine

Since the beginning of hostilities in Ukraine, Russia has opened 60 criminal cases related to the protests. This was announced in the telegram channel by the head of Agora Pavel Chikov.

According to human rights activists, 46 people became defendants in criminal cases in 22 Russian regions, two of them are charged with two articles of the Criminal Code. “Nine of them are in custody, three are under house arrest, and two more courts have ordered a ban on certain actions. At least five of the accused are outside Russia," Chikov said.

He noted that ten criminal cases were opened under the new Art. 207.3 of the Criminal Code - about "fakes" about the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Nine more cases - under Part 2 of Art. 214 of the Criminal Code (“Vandalism motivated by hatred”), which involved at least three street artists (in Moscow, Vladimir and St. Petersburg). The same number of cases were initiated under Part 1 of Art. 318 of the Criminal Code (use of non-dangerous violence against a representative of authority). In addition, the FSB in Kazan and Petrozavodsk is investigating two cases of justifying terrorism (Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code).

According to Chikov, there are some cases in which there are no defendants. “The most common is the article on knowingly false reporting of an act of terrorism (Part 2 of Article 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) — it was used by the police as a basis for investigative actions and the seizure of computers and phones from civil activists and journalists in at least 10 regions of Russia,” he said. . Also for these purposes, according to Chikov, a libel case (Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code) against the governor of the Pskov region Mikhail Vedernikov and a fraud case (Part 1 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) in Novosibirsk were used.

Putin signed a law criminalizing "fakes about the actions of the Russian military" and "calls for anti-Russian sanctions" on March 4. Article 207.3 appeared in the Criminal Code, which was subsequently supplemented with a clause on liability for "fake news" about the activities of state bodies of the Russian Federation. According to Art. 207.3 of the Criminal Code, for the dissemination of "fake" you can get up to 10 years in prison. If this caused “serious consequences” - up to 15 years.