On May 14, the Supreme Court of Bashkortostan replaced Anatoly Kudryashov’s imprisonment with a fine of 150 thousand rubles under the article on repeated discrediting of the Russian army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). OVD-Info was told about this by the press service of the court.
On April 16, the court of first instance sentenced Kudryashov to one and a half years in a penal colony; he was also banned from administering websites for a period of two years. However, this sentence was commuted on appeal.
On June 20, 2022, the Nyagan City Court of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Ugra fined Anatoly Kudryashov, his full namesake, for 30 thousand rubles under the article on discrediting (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code). The protocol was drawn up due to several anti-war comments under posts in the public page “Nyagan [TN]”. “People come to your senses!!! You are being forced to kill each other by those who have been planning this war for more than nine years!!! Then they shot in both directions to create a conflict! And then they were brainwashed for 8 years!!!” - he wrote in one of them. The man was also charged with a post on his VKontakte page with the text “Before helping someone, ask him if he needs it???..”.
At the court hearing, Kudryashov said that he “is an oppositionist and fights with the ruling party so that there is no corruption, fights with the Administration of the city of Nyagan, always criticizes their actions.” The man also spoke about his anti-war views, but noted that he did not criticize the Russian army.
It is unknown whether we are talking about the same person.
- 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 900 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.