On November 17, the Zelenodolsk City Court of Tatarstan returned to the prosecutor’s office the case against 60-year-old Andrei Bogdanov, who is accused of attempting to set fire to a military registration and enlistment office and re-discrediting the army. OVD-Info drew attention to this.
The reason for the return of the case was violations in the indictment.
Bogdanov is charged with attempted intentional damage to someone else's property by arson (Part 2 of Article 167 with the use of Part 3 of Article 30 of the Criminal Code) and repeated discrediting of the army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). The man connects the persecution with his anti-war position.
According to investigators, in early September 2022, Bogdanov made an unsuccessful attempt to set fire to the Zelenodolsk military commissariat. He allegedly threw a bottle of flammable liquid towards the building, but it did not catch fire. The next day, Bogdanov was detained and then sent to a pre-trial detention center. In mid-February, the man was transferred to the hospital for surgery. In March he was released from custody under a ban on certain activities.
It is unknown why Bogdanov was charged with discrediting the army again. In 2022, a man was fined because of posters “No ZZonder operation, boys go home to their mothers! not a load of 200" and "Citizens? The Fatherland is in danger, our tanks are on foreign soil! - Alexander Galich" under the article on discrediting the army (Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code).
- 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 750 people have become defendants in criminal cases initiated due to protest against the war with Ukraine. Read more about this in our infographic .
- Article 280.3 (Public actions aimed at discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation) was included in the Criminal Code in March 2022 - in this way the government 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. On March 14, 2023, the State Duma adopted amendments increasing the maximum penalty under this article, since then it has been seven years in prison.
- Since the beginning of the full-scale war with Ukraine, military registration and enlistment offices and administrative buildings have been set on fire in various Russian cities. After the announcement of the “partial” mobilization, such arson became more frequent— several dozen cases of arson of military registration and enlistment offices are known . Some of the criminal cases in connection with the arson of military registration and enlistment offices, as well as police departments, the FSB and administrative buildings are listed in our guide to the “anti-war case”. OVD-Info suggests that at least some of these actions were a response to military aggression from Russia.