During the debate in the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow, the prosecutor requested eight years and six months of imprisonment in absentia for the former head of the capital's Krasnoselsky District, Elena Kotenochkina. This was reported by her lawyer, Tatyana Solomina.
At the end of April 2022, security forces conducted a search in the building of the Council of Deputies of the Krasnoselsky District. On the same day, it became known about criminal cases under the article on military "fakes" (Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) against Elena Kotenochkina and municipal deputy of the district Alexei Gorinov.
The former municipal deputies were accused of calling a “special operation” a war at a meeting of the Council of Deputies on March 15, spreading “fakes” about the daily deaths of children in Ukraine, and calling the actions of the Russian army “actions of a fascist state.” Kotenochkina was also charged with a video about conscripts in a war zone, which, according to investigators, she recorded no later than March 16.
The politician left Russia before the search of the building of the Council of Deputies. In April 2023, she was arrested in absentia for two months from the moment of her actual return to Russia and put on the international wanted list.
In July 2022, her colleague Alexei Gorinov was sentenced to seven years in a general regime penal colony under the article on disseminating "fakes" about the Russian army using his position and motivated by hatred or enmity. Later, on appeal, the term was reduced by one month.
- In October 2023, a new criminal case was opened against Alexey Gorinov: this time on the justification of terrorism (Part 1 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). According to the investigation , in January 2023, the man communicated with other prisoners about the blowing up of the Crimean Bridge and the activities of the Azov Battalion. In May 2024, he was finally charged .
- Since February 24, 2022 — the first day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine — residents of Russian cities have been taking part in anti-war protests and talking about the tragedy online every day. Anti-war speeches and statements are becoming grounds for criminal prosecution. At the moment, more than 950 people have become defendants in criminal cases initiated due to protests 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 — this is how 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 the article is 15 years in prison.