Igor Strelkov was arrested under Art. 280 Criminal Code

Igor Strelkov was detained in Moscow. He is accused of public calls for extremism (Article 280 of the Criminal Code). The court sent him under arrest until September 18.

On July 21, 2023, law enforcement officers in Moscow detained Igor Strelkov (real name Girkin). His apartment was searched.

Initially, it was not clear under which article a criminal case was initiated. Strelkov's wife, Miroslava Reginskaya, said that, according to some acquaintances, Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (inciting hatred). Then the media, citing witnesses to the detention, reported that it could be Art. 282.1 of the Criminal Code (organization of an extremist community). However, later it became known that he was accused under Part 2 of Art. 280 of the Criminal Code (public calls for extremism on the Internet).

The Meshchansky District Court of Moscow on the same day granted the request of the investigation and placed Strelkov in custody until September 18. After Strelkov's arrest, his colleague Pavel Gubarev held a one-man picket near the building of the Meshchansky District Court with a poster “Freedom to Strelkov. Glory to Russia” and was himself detained; he was soon released without a protocol being drawn up. Several other supporters of the politician were also detained.

From the decision to open a criminal case, dated July 18, 2023, it follows that specialists from the FSB Institute of Criminalistics examined Strelkov’s Telegram posts and found in his post dated May 22, 2022 “linguistic signs of a call to commit crimes motivated by political hatred and enmity” . This publication, which was read by more than 432 thousand people, was devoted to the non-payment of monetary allowances to soldiers of the 105th and 107th regiments of the DPR Armed Forces. According to the author of the post, those responsible for such situations "shoot a little."

According to Strelkov’s lawyer, experts also examined another post dated June 14, 2023, in which Strelkov commented on Alexander Lukashenko’s words about Russia’s readiness to negotiate with Ukraine on the status of Crimea in 2022. Strelkov called the actions of the Russian leadership an attempt at treason. From the words of the lawyer, it can be judged that in this publication the experts found signs of a public knowingly false accusation of a person holding a public position of extremism. Under the law, such accusations are themselves extremist activities. However, since there were no appeals in this post, in the decision to initiate proceedings under Art. 280 of the Criminal Code, he is not mentioned.

We believe that in his emotional post about non-payments to soldiers, Strelkov expressed himself figuratively, and his words can hardly be regarded as a call to shoot people - even taking into account his combat experience and a wide audience. Therefore, we tend to believe that in this case he is being persecuted unlawfully.

Recall that Igor Strelkov is one of the most ardent critics of how a special military operation is going on, although he fully supports the very idea of ​​\u200b\u200bsuch an operation. Strelkov declares that the goals are set too narrow and are being implemented “ineptly” (for more information about his point of view regarding the NVO, see here and here ), and from this position, without embarrassment in expressions, he criticizes the military and political leadership of the country. In addition, Strelkov consistently criticizes the activities of Wagner PMC and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, with whom he has a conflict (for more details on the conflict with Prigozhin, see here ) .

In April 2023, Strelkov, in alliance with several other public figures, created the Angry Patriots Club. The club united a part of the nationalists (and not only) who, like Strelkov, support the NWO, but do not agree with how it is carried out. Pavel Gubarev, a former member of the Russian National Unity (RNE) and the former "People's Governor" of the Donetsk region, became the chairman of the club. In addition to Strelkov, the club included far-right blogger Maxim Kalashnikov, Drugoros Mikhail Aksel, Odessa Anti-Maidan activist and author of the Ghost of Novorossiya Telegram channel Vladimir Grubnik, veteran of the national-patriotic movement Viktor Alksnis, military expert Maxim Klimov and ex-governor of the Pskov region Yevgeny Mikhailov, a prominent figure in the Liberal Democratic Party in 1993–1999 (for more information about the Club, see here ).

After the "camp on Moscow" PMC "Wagner" Strelkov sought condemnation at the state level of the actions of this structure and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Sources

• Based on social media.
• Security forces detained Igor Strelkov // RBC. 2023. July 21.
• According to preliminary data, Igor Strelkov was detained by the FSB // Telegram channel BAZA. 2023. July 21.
• The prosecution asks to send Strelkov to a pre-trial detention center, the information about the undertaking not to leave was not confirmed // Telegram channel SHOT. 2023. July 21.
• Case card No. 3/1-0205/2023 // Official portal of courts of general jurisdiction. 2023. July 24.