The Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Court received another case of repeated discrediting of the Russian Army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code) against Ukrainian Alexander Vdovichenko living in Russia. The case file is available on the court website; it is unknown what became the reason for the prosecution.
The first case of repeated discrediting against Vdovichenkowas opened on December 7, 2022, then ASTRA reported that the man was already in jail on a case of attempted murder. On July 21, 2023, the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk court imposed a fine of 150 thousand rubles on him. The reason for the criminal prosecution was the condemnation of the war in Ukraine during a private conversation in an apartment in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk with his acquaintances from Russia. Later they wrote a denunciation against the man because he “condemned the Russian aggression against Ukraine and expressed support for the military of the Azov battalion.”
On June 29, 2022, the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk court fined a man 30 thousand rubles under this administrative article about discrediting the army (Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) due to a comment on the website of the news agency Sakh.com. In the text of the publication, he condemned the actions of the Russian Federation.
On August 15, 2023, Vdovichenko was also sentenced to six and a half years of strict regime in the case of attempted murder (Part 1 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code, Part 3 of Article 30 of the Criminal Code), the decision was approved in January.
- 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 800 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.