The Elista City Court received the case of a city hall employee accused of “faking” about the army because of posts

The Elista City Court began to consider the criminal case of an employee of the city mayor's office, Altan Ochirov, accused of spreading “fake news” about the Russian army (clauses “b” and “e”, part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code). “Network Freedoms” writes about this.

According to investigators, Ochirov published posts criticizing the war in Ukraine. The “Caution, News” project reported that the man made posts to the “Volny Ulus” channel from his work computer. By the time the case was brought to court, the charge under paragraph “a” of Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code (using his official position) was dropped against Ochirov.

As evidence of the spread of “fakes,” the prosecution uses a letter from the deputy chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff, General Igor Dylevsky, who, as reported by Network Freedoms, “denies everything.”

The investigation believes that the administration of the telegram channel “Volny Ulus” could also be carried out by active participants in the Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk people Erentsen Dolyaev, Vladimir Dovdanov, Arslang Sandzhiev and Batyr Boromangnaev, who heads the regional branch of Yabloko. All of them are now outside Russia, writes Network Freedom.

Ochirov was detained on April 12 at his workplace - in the administration of Elista, after which he was sent into custody.

• Since February 24—the first day of the “special operation” in Ukraine—residents of Russian cities have been going out to anti-war rallies every day and talking about the tragedy online. Anti-war speeches and statements become grounds for criminal prosecution. At the moment, more than 170 people have become defendants in criminal cases initiated due to protest against the war with Ukraine. Read more about this in our guide .
• Article 207.3 (Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation) was included in the Criminal Code in March 2022 - in this way the authorities responded to anti-war speeches and statements, as well as the dissemination of information about the war that does not come from official Russian sources. The maximum penalty under the article is ten years in prison.