On December 5, the Supreme Court of Crimea approved the verdict of Crimean citizen Dmitry Kozla in the case of repeated discrediting of the army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). Information about this appeared in the case file on the court’s website, OVD-Info drew attention.
On October 19, the Kiev District Court of Simferopol sentenced Kozlya to a year in a general regime colony. It is unknown what exactly the man was charged with.
The case against the Crimean became known in July. Then it turned out that he was sent to a pre-trial detention center. Z-activist Alexander Talipov published a video of a search in the man’s house and his arrest.
A criminal case under Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code can be opened against those who have been prosecuted at least once under a similar administrative article on discrediting the Russian military (Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) during the year. The SOVA Research Center discovered that in May 2022, Dmitry Kozlya was fined 45 thousand rubles under the article on discrediting the army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code). The man was charged with commenting about the Russian military on Facebook. The decision on the fine came into force on June 11 of the same year - more than a year ago. It is possible that the criminal case was opened earlier than July; or Kozlya was later brought to administrative responsibility.
- 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.