A case was opened against a musician from Vladivostok for discrediting the army

The grounds for criminal prosecution were publications on Twitter.

On July 28, 2023, it became known that a criminal case was opened against a musician from Vladivostok under Part 1 of Art. 280.3 of the Criminal Code (repeated discrediting of the use of Russian armed forces).

The reason for the case was the publication of a resident of Vladivostok on Twitter, the exact content of which is not yet known. The case involves five episodes. The musician was charged in the case in June; previously he was sent for an outpatient psychiatric examination.

In June 2022, the defendant in the case was fined 30 thousand rubles under Part 1 of Art. 20.3 Code of Administrative Offenses (discrediting the Russian army). Then the reason for the fine was publications on VKontakte - the musician posted several pictures and comments on the social network in which he criticized the Russian armed forces and the Z and V symbols, and also talked about the tragic events in Bucha.

From our point of view, the introduction into legislation of a ban on discrediting the actions of the Russian armed forces and government agencies abroad was an unjustified restriction of the right to freedom of expression, designed to suppress criticism of the political course of the authorities. Therefore, we consider prosecution under the relevant articles for statements that do not contain direct calls for violence to be unlawful.

Sources

• A criminal case was opened against a musician from Vladivostok for discrediting the army due to tweets // OVD-News. 2023. July 28.