On July 17, the Oktyabrsky District Court of Arkhangelsk registered the materials of a criminal case under the article on repeated discrediting of the army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code) against a man named Andrei Mironenko. The case file is available on the court's website.
It is unknown what became the reason for the criminal prosecution of the man. In April 2023, he was fined 30 thousand rubles under the administrative article on discrediting the army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).
At the end of May 2024, the regional Investigative Committee department published a press release about the initiation of a criminal case under Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code against an unnamed local resident. The security forces cited certain publications made in January as the reason for the 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 280.3 (Public actions aimed at discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation) was included in the Criminal Code in March 2022 — this is how 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.