Dmitry Skurikhin, who covered the building of his store in the Leningrad region with anti-war slogans, was released from the pre-trial detention center despite the investigator's request

The Lomonosov Court of the Leningrad Region refused to satisfy the investigator's request to extend the arrest of Dmitry Skurikhin. A rural entrepreneur was released from pre-trial detention center under house arrest, reports the Network Freedoms project. Earlier, Skurikhin covered the building of his own store with anti-war slogans and publicly asked for forgiveness from Ukraine for the war started by Russia. The activist is being tried under the article on repeated “discrediting” of the army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code).

According to the BBC Russian Service, Dmitry Skurikhin became the first Russian against whom two criminal cases of “discredit” were simultaneously opened. The first was initiated in September 2022. As the OVD-Info project reported, the reason was a photograph of a store with anti-war inscriptions posted by Skurikhin on the Internet, as well as his anti-war post. The court ordered the entrepreneur to prohibit certain actions.

A second criminal case was opened against Skurikhin in 2023. On February 24, the anniversary of the start of the war, he posted a photo with a “Sorry, Ukraine” poster, taken in front of a store with anti-war slogans. On February 26, the Lomonosovsky District Court of the Leningrad Region placed the entrepreneur under arrest.

In May 2022, Skurikhin was also fined 45 thousand rubles under the administrative article on “discrediting” the army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code). The reason was a video in which an entrepreneur spoke out against the war in Ukraine.

Sources: “Network Freedoms” , “BBC Russian Service” , “OVD-Info”

To receive the main news faster, subscribe to our telegram and Twitter .