The Petrozavodsk City Court sentenced pensioner Tatyana Savinkina to a fine of 200 thousand rubles in a criminal case for posting anti-war leaflets in a multi-storey building, but released her from punishment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. This is reported by From Karelia with freedom.
79-year-old Savinkina was found guilty under the article on repeated discrediting of the Russian army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). In October, the prosecutor's office requested a fine of 200 thousand rubles for her. Then the debate was stopped, and after it was resumed, the state prosecution asked for a large amount - a fine of 300 thousand rubles.
In 2022, two cases against a pensioner became known. Presumably, they were combined into one proceeding, since the court considered two episodes of posting leaflets at once. At the same time, Savinkina admitted guilt in only one of these episodes, and categorically refused the second. According to her, it was falsified.
The first case was opened because of anti-war leaflets that Savinkina allegedly posted in the entrance in July; in September, she was searched. In October, information appeared about another case due to leaflets. According to investigators, Savinkina posted them on September 24 in the elevator of a residential building, indicating the number of “young guys” who “returned to Russia in coffins” and mentioning that “a huge number” of children and old people died in Ukraine.
Before this, the woman was fined at least four times because of her anti-war position: three times under the article on discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation (Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) and once under the article on petty hooliganism (Article 20.1 of the Administrative Code).
For the first time, the reason for the fine under the article on discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation in the amount of 30 thousand rubles was the denunciation of the chairman of the HOA - she complained to the police about the leaflets “Putin, get out of Ukraine”, which Savinkina hung in the entrance.
For the second time, Savinkina was fined 15 thousand rubles under the same article because she wrote words about the war in Ukraine at a bus stop. The protocol was drawn up after the denunciation of a ninth-grader.
For the third time, the pensioner was fined under the article of petty hooliganism for one thousand rubles due to the fact that she allegedly stuck protest leaflets to a garbage container.
She was again given a fourth fine in the amount of 15 thousand rubles under the article of discredit, due to the fact that she allegedly posted leaflets with “insult to the president” on the notice board in the entrance.
At the trial, Savinkina stated that she “was not involved in any discrediting,” and in the leaflet, which she placed in the entrance of the house in July 2022, “there was only pain for the death of the soldiers.”
“It’s a pity that honest people are found guilty, while real criminals are released and offered to sign a contract,” the From Karelia with freedom channel quotes the woman as saying.
Savinkina is 79 years old, her husband, according to Mediazona, lives in Ukraine. Before retirement, the woman worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. After resigning from the post of head of the investigation department, she became involved in social activities - she supported the local branches of Memorial and Yabloko, participated in the rehabilitation of those repressed under the USSR, and worked as an assistant to a deputy of the local legislative assembly.
- Since February 24, 2022—the first day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine—residents of Russian cities have been holding anti-war protests every day and talking about the tragedy online. Anti-war speeches and statements become grounds for criminal prosecution. At the moment, more than 1,100 people have become defendants in criminal cases initiated due to protest 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 - in this way 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.