Pavel Stepanov, a defendant in the case of discrediting the army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code) from Tatarstan, was sent for compulsory treatment. This was reported by Politzek-Info.
“Thank God everything is fine with me, a stage is coming soon, possibly to Yekaterinburg. According to the examination, he was found not sane and was sent for compulsory treatment,” the blogger writes in a letter published by the project. Next he quotes from Stas Mikhailov’s song “Russia”.
Stepanov maintained pages on social networks under the pseudonyms “Sovereign Pavel Alexandrovich Stepanov” and “Spirit of Truth of All Rus'!” The reason for initiating a criminal case for discrediting the army against a man was a certain video with discussions about the war in Ukraine. In August last year he was sent to a pre-trial detention center.
On the website of the Pestrechinsky District Court of Tatarstan, OVD-Info found information about the fine that was imposed on Stepanov in September 2022 under the administrative article on discrediting the army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code). According to the text of the resolution, the man was charged with authoring comments on VKontakte criticizing the war, Vladimir Putin, the market economy, as well as xenophobic statements.
On March 5 , Pavel Stepanov was probably also charged with charges of repeated display of prohibited symbols (Part 1 of Article 282.4 of the Criminal Code) and calls for terrorism (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). OVD-Info drew attention to the case file.
We wrote earlier that Stepanov was sent for compulsory treatment by decision of the investigation. This turned out to be incorrect information, we apologize.
- 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.