The court arrested a Sochi resident for two days for the slogan “Glory to Ukraine!”

Victoria Gomzyakova was found guilty under Part 1 of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

On January 11, 2023, the Central District Court of Sochi arrested local resident Victoria Gomzyakova for two days. She was found guilty under Part 1 of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (public demonstration of the symbols of an extremist organization).

As follows from the court ruling, on New Year's Eve, Gomzyakova, being in the city center, repeatedly and publicly shouted the phrase “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to heroes!". She was detained, after which the police drew up two protocols against the resident of Sochi - under Art. 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (disobedience to the lawful demand of a police officer) and under Part 1 of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. According to the first protocol, she was assigned ten days of arrest, and after serving the administrative penalty, she was found guilty under Part 1 of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

Persecution of Gomzyakova under Part 1 of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses we regard as unlawful. Recall that Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses implies punishment for demonstrating the symbols or attributes of prohibited organizations, and not distributing their slogans. We also note that the slogan “Glory to Ukraine!”, which came into circulation at the beginning of the 20th century, should not be considered solely as the slogan of Ukrainian nationalist organizations banned in Russia: in recent years it has been used everywhere in Ukraine and since 2018 has been an official greeting in the Ukrainian army and the police.

Sources

• Case card on an administrative offense No. 5-44/2023 // Central District Court of Sochi. 2023. January 27.
• Card on administrative offense No. 5-8/2023 // Central District Court of Sochi. 2023. January 22.