Berdsk resident sentenced to large fine under article on rehabilitation of Nazism

Yegor Sinko was found guilty of distributing a video criticizing the official celebration of Victory Day and the use of the St. George ribbon.

On August 5, 2024, the Novosibirsk Regional Court sentenced 23-year-old Berdsk resident Yegor Sinko to a fine of 350 thousand rubles under Part 4 of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code (dissemination of information expressing obvious disrespect for society about the days of military glory of Russia, desecration of symbols of military glory of Russia on the Internet). He was also banned from administering websites and posting publications on the Internet for a year.

The prosecution was based on the video “Victory Day” published on May 8, 2022, on the YouTube channel of Belarusian video blogger Valentin Konon TrashSmash, which Sinko republished the next day on his VKontakte social network page, accompanying it with the caption “Happy non-holiday to everyone.” As the press service of the courts of general jurisdiction of the Novosibirsk region indicated, the video “contained information about the days of military glory of Russia associated with the defense of the Fatherland — the celebration of May 9 — that clearly expressed disrespect for society, and also contained a negative assessment of the symbol of victory in the Great Patriotic War — the St. George ribbon.” The criminal case against Sinko, apparently, was opened already in 2024.

It is reported that Sinko admitted guilt, and the case was examined under a special procedure.

The video that served as the reason for the persecution has a pacifist focus. Konon criticizes the official ways of celebrating Victory Day in Russia, which he calls the cult of "victory madness" and the role given to the St. George ribbon in it. The blogger believes that the Russian authorities use the celebration of May 9 to extol Russia's military might and promote militarism. At the same time, the creator of the video speaks of World War II as the greatest tragedy of the 20th century and does not justify Nazism in any way.

We consider the sentence handed down to Sinko to be unlawful. In our opinion, neither criticism of the ways of celebrating Victory Day or other dates, nor different interpretations or even deliberate distortions of historical facts should become grounds for criminal prosecution, unless they are accompanied by calls for violence, hatred and discrimination.

As for the St. George ribbon, its status as a symbol of Russia's military glory has been assigned to it since December 2022 - accordingly, liability is provided for its desecration under Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code. However, it is unclear why people should be subject to criminal prosecution in order to protect abstract symbols - such as symbols of military glory - from criticism, even extreme ones. We should recall that in General Comment No. 34 to Article 19 (freedom of opinion and expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee expresses concern about laws on such actions as, in particular, disrespect for the flag and symbols.

Sources

• The regional court sentenced a resident of Berdsk for the rehabilitation of Nazism // Courts of general jurisdiction of the Novosibirsk region. VKontakte. 2024. August 5.
• Criminal case file No. 2-46/2024 // Novosibirsk Regional Court. 2024. July 26.