The court slightly commuted the sentence for Alexey Moskalev under Art. 280.3 CC

Moskalev's sentence was reduced from two years to a year and ten months in prison. The decision to ban the administration of Internet resources for two years was upheld.

On February 19, 2024, the Tula Regional Court, when re-examining the case, slightly commuted the sentence of Efremov resident Alexey Moskalev, who was found guilty under Part 1 of Art. 280.3 of the Criminal Code (repeated discrediting of the use of the Russian armed forces). The sentence was reduced from two years to a year and ten months in a general regime colony. The decision to ban the administration of Internet resources for two years was upheld.

Let us recall that on March 28, 2023, the Efremovsky Interdistrict Court of the Tula Region sentenced Moskalev to two years in a general regime colony. Later, on July 3, the Tula Regional Court toughened the sentence, adding a two-year ban on administering Internet resources to the imprisonment.

The reason for tightening the court's decision was the appeal of the prosecutor's office sent to the appellate court in April of the same year. In it, the prosecution, demanding a tougher punishment, referred to paragraph “l” of Part 1 of Art. 63 of the Criminal Code on committing a crime in an armed conflict. In turn, Moskalev’s lawyer Vladimir Bilienko, in his appeal and cassation complaints, demanded a full acquittal of his client, and also pointed out that the prosecutor’s office’s demand was unfounded, since the city of Efremov is not located on the territory of an armed conflict.

An appeal against the verdict was also filed by another lawyer, who did not meet with the client and worked under an agreement with a person whose name he refused to name; the text of his complaint admitted Moskalev’s guilt and contained a request to impose a sentence other than imprisonment on him, but ultimately the lawyer did not take part in the appeal hearing.

On December 6, 2023, the First Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction decided to cancel the appeal ruling in the Moskalev case. The materials were sent for re-examination to the Tula Regional Court. As it became known from the decision of the cassation court published at the end of December, the case was sent for a new appeal hearing due to questions that arose regarding the psychological and linguistic examination of the ANO Center for Sociocultural Expertise. The expert report and the educational documents attached to it did not provide information about whether the experts had special knowledge in the field of psychology. In addition, the expert opinion was prepared jointly, and - in violation of the Code of Criminal Procedure - it is impossible to understand from it which expert conducted which part of the study and came to what conclusions. Moreover, later, during the re-examination of the materials in the Tula Regional Court, the lawyer’s request to order an additional comprehensive psychological and linguistic examination was still rejected, despite the fact that the first such conclusion in the case gave rise to claims from the cassation instance.

The persecution of a 54-year-old resident of Efremov began in April 2022, after a scandal at the school where his daughter studied, whom he raised alone. The reason for the scandal was an anti-war drawing drawn by a schoolgirl. A protocol was drawn up against Moskalev due to a publication in Odnoklassniki - he wrote about the rape of Ukrainian girls by Russian soldiers. The Efremovsky Interdistrict Court of the Tula Region fined him 32 thousand rubles under the administrative article on discrediting the armed forces (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code).

A criminal case against Moskalev was initiated at the end of December 2022. The reason for the persecution was also several publications on the Odnoklassniki social network. After a search and interrogation by the FSB, Moskalev and his daughter left the city, after which he was put on the wanted list. On March 1, 2023, Moskalev was detained and the next day he was sent under house arrest on the grounds that he did not appear on time when ordered by the investigator. At the same time, his 13-year-old daughter was placed in a social rehabilitation center for minors, from where on April 5 she was transferred to her mother, who had not participated in her upbringing for several years. On March 17, Moskalev’s case was brought to court.

On March 27, 2023, during the debate between the parties, the state prosecutor asked the court to sentence him to two years of imprisonment in a general regime colony, as well as a three-year ban on the use of the Internet. The defendant was not present when the verdict was announced because, according to the court press secretary, he escaped from house arrest. On March 30, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus reported on the detention of Moskalev in Minsk, and on April 12 it became known that he had been extradited to Russia. On May 3, it turned out that he was in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in Smolensk.

Moskalev’s posts on Odnoklassniki, for which he was criminally convicted, concerned, in particular, the events in Bucha and the death of prisoners of war in Elenovka. We are not familiar with their exact content, however, from our point of view, the introduction into legislation of a ban on discrediting the actions of the Russian armed forces and government agencies abroad was an unjustified restriction of the right to freedom of expression, designed to suppress criticism of the political course of the authorities. If there were no direct calls for violence in Moskalev’s publications, then his persecution, in our opinion, should be considered unlawful.

Sources

• The Court of Appeal commuted the sentence of Alexey Moskalev for two months in the case of discrediting the army // OVD-Info. 2024. February 19.
• Card of proceedings on cassation appeal No. 7U-12623/2023 [77-5676/2023] // First Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction. 2023. December 20.
• The 1st Court of Cassation in Saratov decided to transfer the case of Alexey Moskalev, who was sentenced to 2 years for “discrediting the army” for a new trial to the appellate court // SOTA. Telegra,. 2023. December 6.
• Two years for posts on Odnoklassniki. Appeal against the verdict of Tula single father Alexei Moskalev // Mediazona. 2023. July 3.
• Alexey Moskalev was found in the Smolensk pre-trial detention center // OVD-News. 2023. May 3.
• The prosecutor demanded a tougher punishment for Alexey Moskalev // OVD-News. 2023. April 23.
• Alexey Moskalev was extradited from Belarus to Russia // OVD-Info. Telegram. 2023. April 12.
• Alexey Moskalev was detained in an apartment in Minsk // SOTA. Telegram. 2023. March 30.
• Court: the father of Masha Moskaleva from Efremov, before the verdict on “discrediting” the army, escaped from house arrest // Mediazona. 2023. March 28.
• Only old men go into battle or again the heading “old acquaintance” // Tula. ExtremeZm. Telegram. 2023. January 16.
• Administrative violation case file No. 5-827/2022 // Efremovsky District Court of the Tula Region. 2023. January 14.
• In the Tula region, a local resident is accused of discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation // Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Tula Region. 2023. March 2.
• The court placed the father of the girl who drew the anti-war drawing under house arrest // OVD-News. 2023. March 2.
• The prosecutor's office requested two years in prison for the father of the girl who drew the anti-war drawing // OVD-News. 2023. March 27.
• Criminal case card No. 1-63/2023 // Efremovsky Interdistrict Court of the Tula Region. 2023. March 27.