The prosecutor asked for a sentence of eight years in prison for Kirov resident Richard Rose, who was persecuted because of his posts on social networks about the war with Ukraine. this . reports Activatika
The court will announce Rose's sentence on September 22. The defendant refused the last word.
The Kirov resident is being prosecuted under articles on disseminating “fake stories” about the Russian army based on hatred (clause “d”, part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) and on justifying terrorism on the Internet (part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). Initially, the case was opened under an article about “fakes” - Rose is accused of publishing on Instagram a video by Alexander Sotnik about the murder of residents of Bucha with the comment: “The massacre in Bucha will never be forgotten throughout the world and the Russian fascists will never be forgiven for this!” The man has been in custody since the spring of 2022.
In December 2022, it became known that had been opened another case against the accused - about justifying terrorism. This time, the occasion was the publication on Rose’s Instagram of a video calling on Ukrainian musician Svyatoslav Vakarchuk to stop the war and commenting: “There is only one way to stop a putler - to kill him physically.”
In court, Richard Rose admitted guilt, saying: “Since I do not watch television, was not aware of the briefings of the Ministry of Defense and Putin’s orders, and do not visit the websites of Russian media and government agencies, I decided that the Russian Armed Forces were to blame for this.”
The prisoner's wife, Maria, is also persecuted because of her anti-war statements. against her Criminal cases were opened under articles on military “fakes” (clause “e”, part 2, article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) and calls for extremist activity (part 2, article 280 of the Criminal Code). In the spring of 2022, she was ordered to prohibit certain actions as a preventive measure; in December it became known that the woman and her child had left Russia.
In May of this year, Maria Rose was put on the federal wanted list, after which she was detained by security forces in Armenia - they came to the woman’s home and took her and her son to the police. They were released six hours later: during this time, according to Rose, she was threatened with arrest and extradition to Russia, as well as that the child would be sent to an orphanage. As a result, she and her child were able to get to Poland.
- In May 2023, the ECHR awarded Richard Rose compensation of 3,500 euros in the case of unlawful detention and trial after the 2018 anti-Putin protest “He is not our king.”
-
Since February 24, 2022—the first day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine—residents of Russian cities have been holding anti-war protests every day and talking about the tragedy online. Anti-war speeches and statements become grounds for criminal prosecution. At the moment, more than 650 people have become defendants in criminal cases initiated due to protest against the war with Ukraine. Read more about this in our infographic .
-
Article 207.3 (Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation) was included in the Criminal Code in March 2022 - in this way the authorities 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. The maximum penalty under this article is 15 years in prison.