The Aleysky City Court received a case on repeated discrediting of the army

Nikolai Usov was held liable under Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code. He was previously fined for publishing anti-war materials.

On July 31, 2024, the Aleysky City Court of the Altai Territory received a criminal case against local activist Nikolai Usov. The reason for the prosecution is unknown.

Previously, Usov was twice held liable under Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. On January 24, 2023, the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Barnaul fined him 35 thousand rubles for picketing with an anti-war poster. And on April 25 of the same year, the same court fined him 38 thousand rubles for publishing four videos and one text message on VKontakte criticizing Russia's armed actions in Ukraine.

In our opinion, the introduction of a ban on discrediting the actions of the Russian armed forces and government agencies abroad into legislation was an unjustified restriction of the right to freedom of expression, designed to suppress criticism of the authorities' political course. Therefore, we consider prosecution under the relevant articles for statements that do not contain direct calls for violence to be unlawful.

Sources

• Criminal case file No. 1-146/2024 // Aleysky City Court of Altai Krai. 2024. August 5.
• Case card on administrative offence No. 5-49/2023 // Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Barnaul. 2023. August 10.