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Environmental activist accused of repeatedly discrediting the army recants confession
Environmental activist from Komi Alexey Semenov refused to admit guilt in his criminal case on repeated discrediting of the Russian army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by the Telegram channel "Support of Environmental Defenders".
As human rights activists write , during a hearing in the Izhemsky District Court of the Republic, Semenov stated that he no longer admits his guilt and refuses to have the criminal case considered in a special procedure.
Semenov was detained in October 2022, his apartment was searched, and he was brought directly from the special detention center. There he spent 10 days of administrative arrest under the article on disobeying the police (Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). Before that, Semenov had already served five days of arrest under the article on failure to pay a fine (Part 1 of Article 20.25 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). The day after the search, the man was placed under house arrest, where he remained until February 2023.
The eco-activist is being persecuted because of a post on VKontakte that begins with the words "Izhma rehearses the meeting of cargo '200'." According to a linguist's examination, this text contains three phrases that discredit the Russian army.
Veronika Semenova, the wife of the accused, told OVD-Info that on November 30, her husband's mobile phone, previously confiscated during the search, was returned and then immediately taken away again. This happened at the police station, where Semenov was brought to notify about the creation of a new investigative group for the case. The police said that the phone was confiscated "with violations" and returned the gadget. Immediately after this, the security forces demanded that the phone be returned to them - they provided a seizure order and drew up a corresponding report.
told Since Semenov has been under house arrest, he has been charged with at least eight violations of the terms of the preventive measure. All of them are related to the loss of connection between the electronic bracelet worn by the activist and a stationary tracking device. The first six cases were when the man was taking a bubble bath, and the last ones were at night when he was sleeping at home. At the same time, according to Veronika Semenova, the radius of the permissible distance from the device is only 7 meters instead of the recommended 50 or 100.
two occurred - Alexey Semenov owned a recycling collection point in Izhma and against the construction of a solid waste landfill. In addition, the eco-activist traveled to the Arkhangelsk region to participate in protests against the landfill near the Shies station. spoke - Since February 24, 2022 - the first day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine - residents of Russian cities have been taking part in anti-war protests every day and talking about the tragedy online. Anti-war speeches and statements are becoming grounds for criminal prosecution. At the moment, more than 550 people have become defendants in criminal cases initiated due to protests against the war with Ukraine. Read more about this in our . infographics - Article 280.3 (Public actions aimed at discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation) in the Criminal Code in March 2022 - this is how the government 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. On March 14, 2023, the State Duma adopted amendments increasing the maximum penalty under this article, which has since been seven years of imprisonment.