The case of the author of the telegram channel “Real Crime” was transferred to a military court

The criminal case of the author of the telegram channel “Real Crime” Ruslan Ushakov was transferred for consideration to the Second Western District Military Court. This was reported by lawyer Leysan Mannapova, who, with the support of OVD-Info, represents his interests.

The man has been under arrest since his arrest on December 14, 2022. Ushakov is being held in the Butyrka pre-trial detention center. The investigation into his case ended in the first half of spring.

Ushakov is being prosecuted under four articles of the criminal code - disseminating “fakes” about the Russian army (clause “e” of part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code), rehabilitation of Nazism (part 4 of article 354.1 of the Criminal Code), justification of terrorism (part 2 of art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code) and inciting hatred or enmity (clause “a”, part 2 of article 282 of the Criminal Code). All this is due to messages in the chat of the Real Crime telegram channel. They, in particular, talked about the shelling of Mariupol and the killings of civilians in Ukraine, and also contained calls for violence against Vladimir Putin.

• 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 550 people have become defendants in criminal cases initiated due to protest against the war with Ukraine. Read more about this in our infographic .
• 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.