A Volgograd resident was arrested for posting leaflets with swastikas against the “special operation”

With regard to the Volgograd citizen, Gotry drew up almost 50 protocols under Art. 20.3 and 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. He was sent under arrest for 23 days and fined 690 thousand rubles.

On August 8, 2022, the Voroshilovsky District Court of Volgograd arrested for 15 days under Part 1 of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (public demonstration of Nazi symbols) by Vitaliy Gotru. On August 10, the same court considered 20 more protocols under the same article, and on August 23, two more. The total duration of the terms of administrative arrest under all 23 protocols was more than 200 days, but most of them were absorbed by the previous ones. As a result, in fact, Gotra was sentenced to 23 days of arrest.

In addition, on September 9, the court imposed a fine on Gautre in the amount of a thousand rubles under Part 2 of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for the manufacture of Nazi symbols.

In addition, on August 10, the same court received 21 more protocols drawn up against Gotra under Part 1 of Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (discrediting the use of aircraft), and on August 23 - two more protocols. As a result, on September 9 and 15, Gotra was fined a total of 690,000 rubles. Gotra tried to appeal each of the 23 rulings under Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on appeal, however, during October 2022, the Volgograd Regional Court rejected all of his complaints.

The reason for the persecution was that Gotra pasted stickers against the military special operation in Ukraine with the image of Vladimir Putin, the letter Z and a swastika on the entrances of houses. The published resolutions indicate that Gotra posted leaflets in the city, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin was described as an “enemy”, a “special military operation” on the territory of Ukraine as a “war”, and its participants were called “fascist”. In addition, the leaflet contained a link to the Telegram channel of the Freedom of Russia legion.

Law enforcement agencies, on unclear grounds, interpreted the sticking of each leaflet as a separate episode. In addition, Gotra was sentenced for the same acts under two articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses at once, which does not comply with the provisions of Art. 4.4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. According to the first protocols, her husband pleaded guilty, but later decided to appeal the court's decisions. She also explained that her husband was from the Mykolaiv region and had close relatives there, so he was in a state of depression. Gotra was fired from the print shop where he worked and printed the stickers.

From our point of view, prosecution under Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses is appropriate when the symbols are used specifically to promote Nazi ideology. In this case, the forbidden symbols were obviously used not for Nazi propaganda, but as a means of political criticism. As regards Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, we believe that the introduction into the legislation of a ban on discrediting the actions of the Russian armed forces and government agencies abroad was an unreasonable restriction on the right to freedom of expression, designed to suppress criticism of the political course of the authorities. Therefore, we also consider prosecution under the relevant articles for statements that do not contain direct calls for violence to be unlawful.

Sources

• Resident of Volgograd sentenced for discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation // Website of the Voroshilovsky District Court of Volgograd. 2022. September 12.
• The court considered materials on administrative offenses aimed at discrediting the use of the Russian Armed Forces // Website of the Voroshilovsky District Court of Volgograd. 2022. September 15.
• “He has parents there, he is depressed”: a resident of Volgograd was fined 360 thousand rubles for discrediting the RF Armed Forces // V1.ru. 2022. 9 September.
• The Voroshilovsky District Court considered the material under Art. 20.3 Administrative Code of the Russian Federation // Website of the Voroshilovsky District Court of Volgograd. 2022. August 8.
• The Voroshilovsky District Court of Volgograd considered 20 materials under Part 1 of Art. 20.3 Administrative Code of the Russian Federation // Website of the Voroshilovsky District Court of Volgograd. 2022. August 11.
• Cases on administrative offenses - first instance // Website of the Voroshilovsky District Court of Volgograd. 2022. 24 August.
• Well, what have you achieved? Ukrainian Vitaliy Gotra lives in Russia. Here he received a fine of 691 thousand rubles and 22 days of arrest. // Cold. 2022. September 18.
• Cases of administrative offenses - complaints against decisions // Volgograd Regional Court. 2022.