A protocol for “discrediting” the Russian army was drawn up against Novosibirsk City Council deputy Helga Pirogova

Updated. A protocol for "discrediting" the Russian army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) was drawn up against Novosibirsk City Council deputy Helga Pirogova. She was released from the police station.

In Novosibirsk, plainclothes police officers detained city council member Helga Pirogova. According to Taiga.info, the detention occurred immediately after a charity auction, which raised money to pay fines for those convicted of protests in 2021.

"Coalition Novosibirsk 2020" published a video of Pirogova being put into a police car. At the same time, Pirogova's associates demand that the police show documents and the prosecutor's permission to detain the current deputy.

Another city council member, Anton Kartavin, commenting on the police's actions, said that Pirogova is four months pregnant. "She should not be detained at all, sent to a special detention center somewhere. And if they want to hold a trial, then it should be now, at one in the morning," he said.

According to Taiga.info, Pirogova was taken to the Central Police Department. Coalition reports that they are going to draw up a report on her for “discrediting” the army (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

• On July 10, the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, ordered an investigation into Helga Pirogova. The reason for the investigation was a tweet in which the deputy commented on a Mediazona article about Russian volunteers killed in Ukraine. According to Taiga.info, a group of deputies of the regional legislative assembly and the city council wrote a "denunciation" against Pirogova.
• Helga Pirogova was elected to the Novosibirsk City Council in 2020 as part of an opposition coalition led by Alexei Navalny, the head of the local headquarters . In March 2022, she attended a city council meeting wearing a blue embroidered shirt and a wreath of sunflowers to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine.