A court in St. Petersburg extended the arrest of Victoria Petrova, a defendant in the case of “fake news” about the army.

The Kalininsky District Court of St. Petersburg extended the detention of Victoria Petrova, accused of distributing “fakes” about the Russian army (clause “d”, part 2, article 207.3 of the Criminal Code), by six months. The St. Petersburg publication “My District” writes about this.

Petrova’s case has already been sent to court for consideration on the merits. The hearings will begin on September 28.

The case against the St. Petersburg woman was opened in early May because of a video on VKontakte dedicated to the war in Ukraine. Investigators claim that the content of the video contradicts information from the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Petrova was detained on May 6, and the next day she was sent to a pre-trial detention center.

October 19 In St. Petersburg, the court rejected the defense’s appeal to change the preventive measure and left Victoria Petrova in pre-trial detention. SOTAvision writes about this.

The girl’s lawyer, Anastasia Pilipenko, asked to place her client under house arrest on bail of one million rubles. She noted that Petrova is not going to evade the law and has a permanent place of residence in St. Petersburg, and also provided 116 guarantees for the person involved in the “anti-war case.”

On February 20, the Kalininsky District Court of St. Petersburg extended the detention in the pre-trial detention center for Victoria Petrova until May 28. RusNews reported this.

A woman spoke at the trial and was ready to provide an apartment on her property as housing for Petrova. In addition, the defense offered to pay bail in the amount of one million rubles for the defendant.

The title has been changed due to new information.

• 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 310 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 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 did not come from official Russian sources. The maximum penalty under this article is 15 years in prison.