The prosecution has asked to sentence municipal deputy Elena Kotenochkina in absentia to 8.5 years in prison in the case of military "fakes"

During the debate in the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow, the state prosecution requested 8.5 years in prison for Yelena Kotenochkina, a municipal deputy of the Krasnoselsky District who left Russia. This was reported by OVD-Info, citing lawyer Tatyana Solomina.

Kotenochkina is accused in absentia of distributing military “fakes” motivated by political hatred (clause “d” of part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code).

The reason for the persecution was a meeting of municipal deputies on March 15, 2022, during which deputy Oleksiy Gorinov proposed to consider not the leisure work plan, but to declare a minute of silence "for the victims of the ongoing military aggression in Ukraine." The meeting was broadcast on the website and YouTube channel of the council of deputies.

"Please tell me, what kind of children's drawing competition can we talk about, timed to coincide with Children's Day?" he asked his colleagues. "And about organizing dance programs timed to coincide with Victory Day? When our children are dying every day - I'll tell you, for your information, that about a hundred children have died in Ukraine." Elena Kotenochkina supported him and jokingly suggested holding a drawing competition "children against war."

In July 2022, Gorinov was sentenced to seven years in prison for his participation in the military "fakes" case. Later, another criminal case was opened against him for justifying terrorism (Part 1 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code) because of his conversations with cellmates about the Ukrainian "Azov".

At the end of May, the court did not allow Kotenochkina's defense to question convicted deputies Ilya Yashin and Aleksey Gorinov as witnesses. The prosecutor's office insisted that there were "no grounds" for questioning them, and that the charges against Gorinov were related to the same episode as Kotenochkina's. Judge Goryunova supported the position of the state prosecution.