Translated material
30 thousand for a quote from Putin. How the President discredits the army
In St. Petersburg, the court fined 43-year-old Arthur Dmitriev for 30 thousand rubles for stood in the subway with a poster, which was an anti-war quote from President Vladimir Putin. Dmitriev believes that “prank has been a success,” because he forced the court to recognize the president’s words with “the discrediting of the Russian Armed Forces”. The correspondent of the North. Realia learned from Dmitriev why he enters the protest and would not appeal the decision.
Arthur Dmitriev is born from Bashkiria, but last year he lives in St. Petersburg and works as a marketer. He has three children. Arthur constantly enters the protest. For example, he opposed the arrest of politician Alexei Navalny and the persecution of journalists (when the police threw drugs to Ivan Golunov). In addition, Dmitriev is a participant in the Voice movement (recognized by a foreign agent), who monitors the honesty of elections, he was an observer and member of the election commission.
The idea to get out with a poster with a quote by Putin at Arthur appeared after he read a selection of anti -war quotes of the president, which was made by the Medusa publication.
He made a poster on which he wrote the phrase: "The war brought so many unbearable trials, grief and tears that this is impossible to forget. And there is no forgiveness and justification for those who again think of aggressive plans."
Vladimir Putin said exactly the same words when he played at the Victory Parade on May 9, 2021. The decoding of his performance is available on the Kremlin’s website, there is also a video.
Dmitriev got up with this poster in the lobby of the Parnas metro station so that the stream of people goes to him, and Petersburgers could see a quote.
- Many supported me - showed a finger up, smiled. It was very joyful for me. 30 percent of people showed support signs, ”he says.
Arthur stood for about ten minutes. An employee of the subway approached him, of those that are at the turnstiles. Dmitriev was taken to the supporting point of the police, where he was waiting for the arrival of police officers for about half an hour, who then took him to the police department No. 49.
- By the way, the metro staff were confused. It was evident from the eyes that the guys did not know what to do. This is the metro station remote from the center, no protest movements occur here. Surely, I was the first, ”Arthur jokes.
But in the police department I had to wait a long time. Dmitriev was charged with an administrative article 20.3.3 - discrediting the Armed Forces of Russia.
This article does not provide for arrest. Therefore, according to the law, Dmitriev could not keep in the department for more than three hours.
- They kept me for more than a day, did not want to let go. I did not call them my place of residence, referring to the 51st article of the Constitution [allows not to testify against myself]. Well, in order to somehow justify my long-term content under arrest, they paid me a state of drug intoxication. This allows you to put in the camera until the morning, before the work of the medical board. They said that they would take it for examination in the morning, and then to the court. But the examination was never taken away, of course. In court, this accusation disappeared, ”Arthur continues.
Then he still made the police bring him to the examination, its results will be within two weeks. In addition, Dmitriev had to return to the department for things and documents.
"Putin's quote can be extremist"
The consideration of the case in court took about 15 minutes. The judge asked Dmitriev why he went to the picket, he replied that he was not obliged to explain - everything was said on the poster. According to the court order, he considered that Dmitriev "formed an opinion not about the participation of the Russian armed forces in a special military operation, but in the war, which distorted and discredited the tasks of using the armed forces outside the Russian Federation." For this he was fined 30 thousand rubles. The decision was made by Judge Julia Mamina.
Judge Dmitriev did not say that Putin was a quote on the poster.
- In this case, the sentence could have been avoided, the judge could be frightened. And the meaning of the action would be simply lost. I just decided to check how much a repressive car can eat itself, how dumb and limited. As you can see, everything worked out. They are absolutely littered, they cannot look for information, they cannot do something with it. They simply see the word "war" - and this is enough for them. The meaning was to receive a conviction, to prove that Putin’s quote could be extremist.
Because of this, Dmitriev will not appeal the court decision. He says that although he goes to pickets and promotions, he is scared to do it.
- I think people do it just because they are scared. Fear not only for themselves, but also for children. I have three children, and I want them to live in a country in which they would not be scared to go to pickets. I will continue to walk. In fact, I consulted with lawyers who are engaged in protest business. Now the judicial practice is such that a criminal case can be imputed at any stage, even if you followed the rally. The courts have such power and conduct such a practice by which you simply cannot justify you. This is a repressive machine. Therefore, yes, scary. But my children support me in this, says Dmitriev.
Hundreds of cases of discrediting
According to the lawyer Stanislav Seleznev from the project "Network Freedom", the number of cases of discrediting the army in Russia is already calculated by hundreds. Nobody can name the exact numbers yet, but according to the “network freedoms”, 298 cases have been initiated at 20.3.3, “OVD-info” wrote about 400 matters. The expert believes that while the police pays attention to precisely active-things are mainly excited for posters with anti-war statements, kinder toys with stickers in stores, badges with the flag of Ukraine and "silent support"-when a person stood not far from the rally and did not say anything.
“It seems to me that the task of the authorities is to exclude this topic from public discussion,” Seleznev believes.
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