A case of repeated discrediting of the army against a resident of Vologda was sent to court

The case against Sergei Solovyov involves two episodes under Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code.

On June 17, 2024, the Vologda City Court registered a criminal case against local resident Sergei Solovyov. He is accused of two episodes under Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code (repeated discrediting of the use of the Russian armed forces).

The details of the criminal case against Solovyov are unknown. In October 2022, he was fined 30 thousand rubles under an administrative article on discrediting the army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). At that time, the reason for bringing him to justice was comments on VKontakte criticizing the Russian Defense Ministry.

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

Sources

• The case of a Vologda resident on discrediting the army was submitted to court // OVD-Info. 2024. June 19.
• Criminal case file No. 1-867/2024 // Vologda City Court of the Vologda Region. 2024. June 18.
• Administrative Offence Case Card No. 5-2726/2022 // Vologda City Court of Vologda Oblast. 2024. January 15.