The Investigative Committee for the Kaluga Region has opened a criminal case against two local residents for insulting the memory of defenders of the Fatherland by a group of people (Part 4 of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by the official website of the regional Investigative Committee.
"According to the investigation, on July 14, 2024, two young residents of the Yukhnovsky district, in a state of intoxication, on the territory of a cultural heritage site of regional significance - the Mass Grave of Soviet soldiers who died for the liberation of the city of Yukhnov, attempted to extinguish the Eternal Flame with their feet, and then tore a wreath from the burial site," the department said.
According to the SOVA Research Center, many cases under Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code are initiated unlawfully and should be classified under other articles of the Criminal Code or resolved within the framework of civil rather than criminal proceedings.
"We believe that the actions of the Leningrad Region residents deserve censure," Sova comments . "However, we recall that criminal prosecution can only be justified in the case of crimes that pose a significant danger to society. At the same time, in our opinion, the criminalization of acts defined so abstractly as insulting the memory of unspecified defenders of the Fatherland hardly meets international legal standards in the field of human rights. In cases where we are talking about an attempt on the reputation of specific veterans, contentious issues can be resolved in civil proceedings. If we consider that the actions of the Kaluga Region residents led to the desecration of the memorial itself (even understanding desecration of monuments as not only their direct damage), then it would be enough to hold them accountable under the less strict Article 214 of the Criminal Code (vandalism).