An entrepreneur from the Leningrad region, Dmitry Skurikhin, who served his sentence in IK-5 in a case of repeated "discrediting" of the army, was released from prison, Bumaga reports .
On August 3, 2023, the Lomonosov Court of the Leningrad Region sentenced Skurikhin to one and a half years of imprisonment in a general regime penal colony in the case of repeated discrediting of the Russian army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). Before the verdict, the man was under house arrest, he was taken into custody in the courtroom, and later placed in SIZO-6 Gorelovo. The defense petitioned to replace the unserved portion of the sentence in the colony with forced labor, but was denied.
Initially, the businessman was prosecuted in two criminal cases. The first case for discrediting the army was opened in September 2022 due to anti-war posters on the facade of his store. In February 2023, Skurikhin became a suspect in a second similar case, the reason for which was a picket with a poster "Sorry, Ukraine!" held on the anniversary of the full-scale invasion on February 24. Subsequently, the cases were combined, the circumstances were considered one ongoing episode.
- Since 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 have become 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 .