The prosecutor's office demands tougher punishment for Alexey Moskalev

The prosecutor refers to the fact that Moskalev committed a crime in the context of an armed conflict.

On April 23, 2023, it became known that the prosecutor’s office had filed an appeal requesting to tighten the sentence of Alexey Moskalev, a resident of Efremov, Tula Region, 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 prosecutor asks to toughen the punishment, namely to impose a two-year ban on Moskalev from administering Internet resources, referring 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 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. It is noteworthy that another lawyer, who did not meet with the client and works under an agreement with a person whose name he refused to name, also filed an appeal against the verdict; the text of his complaint admits Moskalev’s guilt and requests that he be given a sentence other than imprisonment.

Let us recall that on March 28, 2023, the Efremovsky Interdistrict Court of the Tula Region sentenced Moskalev to two years in prison. The trial in Moskalev’s case took place in the Efremovsky court on March 27. During the debate between the parties, the state prosecutor asked the court to sentence him to two years in prison to be served in a general regime colony, as well as a three-year ban on using 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.

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, broke out because of an anti-war drawing she had drawn. 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 on the investigator’s summons. 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.

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

• 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 an 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.