The examination in the case of “discrediting” the army against a journalist from the Moscow region was declared invalid, but the court still approved the decision to fine

The Moscow Regional Court approved the decision to fine the deputy editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Zhukovskie Vesti, Elya Znamenskaya, despite the fact that the examination in her case was declared invalid. The journalist herself reported this to Mediazona.

In March, the Zhukovsky City Court of the Moscow Region fined Znamenskaya 30 thousand rubles, finding her guilty of “discrediting” the army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) due to the YouTube stream “Your denunciation is very important for us” discussing the war in Ukraine . In particular, the journalist on the stream said that the Russian military was “sending the loot” home, and expressed concern that “the official sources of Russia are fake.”

According to the journalist, a report was drawn up against her after a “veteran of the Northern Military District” approached State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein, outraged by “anti-Russian propaganda,” and demanded “to take measures to suppress the mass spread of disinformation.” Khinshtein, in turn, sent this denunciation to the head of the RKN, Andrei Lipov. The complaint against Znamenskaya was preceded by her conflict with the city council deputy from A Just Russia, Sergei Zhuravlev.

As evidence of Znamenskaya’s guilt in the case, a psychological and linguistic examination was used, carried out by translator Alexander Tarasov and mathematics teacher, founder of the ANO “Center for Sociocultural Expertise” Natalia Kryukova - they also conducted examinations on other political cases, including the case of a resident of the Moscow region Vladislav Sinitsa about inciting hatred towards law enforcement officers and their relatives.

On May 19, the Ministry of Justice responded to a request from Znamenskaya’s lawyer and reported that Kryukova and Tarasov “do not have the necessary professional competencies to conduct a psychological and linguistic examination, since they do not have a higher linguistic (psychological) education.” In this regard, the judge of the Moscow Regional Court excluded the examination from the evidence in the case, but still found the journalist guilty of “discrediting” the armed forces.