62-year-old Evgeny Bestuzhev was left in a pre-trial detention center in the case of “fake news”. He previously suffered heart attacks

The St. Petersburg City Court approved a preventive measure—staying in a pre-trial detention center—for Evgeniy Bestuzhev, a defendant in the case of “fakes” about the Russian army. This was reported by Sergei Podolsky, a lawyer representing his interests from OVD-Info.

62-year-old Bestuzhev has serious health problems: stage 3 chronic hypertension - in 2008 he suffered a myocardial infarction and heart surgery. In the pre-trial detention center, the man’s condition is getting worse every day.

Now he needs surgery, which even the doctors in the isolation ward admit, but it is impossible to do it under the current conditions. Bestuzhev had already had several heart attacks; back in December 2022, the defense insisted on a milder measure of restraint.

The initiation of a case against Bestuzhev under the article on the dissemination of “fakes” about the Russian army based on political hatred (clause “d”, part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) became known on November 9, 2022. Then a search was carried out in his apartment, the man was detained as a suspect. The next day he was sent into custody.

The reason for initiating the case was posts on VKontakte, which were published on Bestuzhev’s personal page, as well as “interviews with representatives of Ukrainian YouTube channels.” The case file mentions 27 posts on social networks made between February and the end of March 2022.

Bestuzhev actively spoke out against the war in Ukraine on his social networks. On April 6, 2022, the VKontakte administration blocked his profile.

OVD-Info launched a petition in support of the man; it has currently been signed by more than 26 thousand people. You can also support Evgeniy Bestuzhev with a letter:

195 009, St. Petersburg, Arsenalnaya embankment, 7, FKU SIZO-1 “Crosses” Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, Evgeniy Leonardovich Bestuzhev, born in 1960.

• Since February 24, 2022—the first day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine—residents of Russian cities have been holding anti-war protests every day and talking about the tragedy online. Anti-war speeches and statements become grounds for criminal prosecution. At the moment, more than 500 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 (Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation) 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 does not come from official Russian sources. The maximum penalty under this article is 15 years in prison.