The case of a resident of Primorsko-Akhtarsk was brought to court

Gennady Vladimirov is accused under four articles of the Criminal Code.

On April 23, 2024, the Southern District Military Court received a criminal case against a resident of Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Krasnodar Territory, Gennady Vladimirov. He was charged under Part 2 of Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code (public calls for terrorism or its justification), part 2 of Art. 280 of the Criminal Code (public calls for extremist activities), paragraph “c”, part 2 of Art. 280.4 of the Criminal Code (public calls for anti-state activities), as well as under Part 1 of Art. 280.3 of the Criminal Code (repeated discrediting of the armed forces).

The initiation of a criminal case against Vladimirov became known in December 2022, and a written undertaking not to leave was taken from him. The reason for the persecution was his comments on social networks.

We consider the charges brought against Vladimirov under Part 1 of Art. 280.3 of the Criminal Code on two counts - for comments on VKontakte about injured civilians in a Ukrainian village and for a picture published on the same social network with a woman, a child, the letters Z and a garbage bag tied with a St. George’s ribbon and with a pool of blood underneath. Previously, Vladimirov was fined 40 thousand rubles under Part 1 of Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on discrediting the armed forces for a video in which he burned his military ID and uniform (at that moment he was in the reserves).

Let us recall that, from our point of view, the introduction into legislation of a ban on discrediting the actions of the Russian armed forces and government agencies abroad was an unjustified restriction of the right to freedom of expression, designed to suppress criticism of the political course of the authorities. Therefore, we consider prosecution under the relevant articles for statements that do not contain direct calls for violence to be unlawful.

Other charges are related to Vladimirov’s comments on Telegram: a charge of justifying terrorism - with comments in support of Denis Popov, accused of setting fire to a military registration and enlistment office in Uglich, a charge of calls for extremism - with two comments calling for violence against Russians, a charge of calls for anti-state activities - with two more comments, one of which contained a call for sabotage.

Sources

• The court received the case of a resident of Primorsko-Akhtarsk about comments about the war in Ukraine // OVD-Info. 2024. May 3.
• Criminal case card No. 1-262/2024 // Southern District Military Court. 2024. April 26.