The Basmanny District Court of Moscow arrested former employees of the North Caucasus Regional Forensic Center of the Ministry of Justice, spouses Denis and Maria Mamedov, in the case of promoting terrorism (Part 1 of Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code). Mediazona drew attention to the cards in the database of the capital's courts.
In October 2023, the Mamedovs were arrested in absentia under the article on the dissemination of military “fakes” based on political hatred (clause “d”, part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code). On April 12, Deniswas sentenced in absentia in this case to eight and a half years in prison; Maria’s case is still being considered.
Mamedov was re-arrested in absentia on the day of sentencing, his wife - today, April 15. It is clarified that the case against her was opened on March 21, at the same time the Ministry of Internal Affairs re-put her on the international wanted list. What became the reason for the new criminal case is unknown.
The “fake” case was brought against the couple because of an anti-war mailing that the couple sent to the email addresses of their colleagues at the forensic center.
The Mamedovs left for the USA back in 2022. After emigrating, they began sending complaints to Russian government agencies demanding to stop the war and actively writing about their position on social networks. Their pages on VKontakte and Odnoklassniki were blocked.
- 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 850 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.