The Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region issued a verdict under Art. 354.1 CC

Vadim Fatkhullin was fined 2 million rubles.

On July 27, 2023, the court of the Jewish Autonomous Region sentenced Vadim Fatkhullin under Part 4 of Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code (distribution of information about the days of military glory of Russia expressing obvious disrespect for society, insulting the memory of defenders of the Fatherland, committed publicly). He was sentenced to a fine of 2 million rubles.

On October 2, 2023, the Fifth General Court of Appeal affirmed the verdict.

The case was considered in a special manner. The appeals court refused to commute the sentence despite the fact that Fatkhullin made repeated donations to the “Zashchita” charity foundation, publicly apologized, and has a dependent young child.

Unfortunately, we have no information about the content of the publications that accused Fatkhullin, and we cannot assess the legality of his prosecution. In general, however, in our opinion, if we were talking about criticism of the ways of celebrating Victory Day or another holiday, such actions should not become a reason for criminal prosecution if they are not accompanied by calls for violence, hatred and discrimination. As for the accusation of insulting the memory of defenders of the Fatherland, if we are talking about unspecified defenders, from our point of view, the criminalization of acts defined so abstractly does not meet international legal standards in the field of human rights. In cases where we are talking about an attack on the reputation of specific veterans, controversial issues can be resolved through civil proceedings.

Sources

• Criminal case card No. 2-8/2023 // Court of the Jewish Autonomous Region. 2024. March 1.
• Criminal case card No. 55-656/2023 // Fifth Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction. 2024. December 13.