On July 11, the Tomsk Regional Court returned the case materials on calls for extremism (Part 2 of Article 280 of the Criminal Code) against Leonid Rybakov for revision. OVD-Info found information about this on the court's website.
In March, the Kirov District Court of Tomsk sentenced Rybakov to two years probation, TV2 reported . The case against the man was opened on June 15, 2022, due to a post on VKontakte with the words "Kill Putin's people if absolutely necessary. Take them prisoner if possible."
In order to have the case considered in a special procedure, Rybakov admitted his guilt and agreed with the charges. However, the state prosecutor petitioned for the case to be considered in a general procedure. In her opinion, Rybakov still does not agree with the charges, since he had previously submitted a petition to the court to dismiss the case: at that time, the activist's defense noted that Russian law prohibits judging twice for the same act, and for this post the man had already been fined 10 thousand rubles under the article on incitement of hatred or enmity (Article 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).
The prosecutor also added that, according to Rybakov, it is clear that he does not admit guilt, for example, he called the investigators in his case "Chekists". The court agreed with the state prosecution.
The case was submitted to the court of first instance in January 2023.
It is unknown what exactly was the reason for the return of the case materials. After the deficiencies are corrected, it will have to be resubmitted to the regional court for appeal.
- A criminal case was also opened against Leonid Rybakov for repeated discrediting of the Russian army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code) due to comments on VKontakte. In May 2023, the man was sent for a psychiatric examination under this criminal case. In February, the case was submitted to court. Rybakov had previously been fined twice under the administrative article on discrediting the army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses): in connection with participation in an anti-war rally and because of the Ukrainian flag and the poster "Russia without Putin" hung in the window of his apartment.
- 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 .