On December 24, the Shirinsky District Court of the Republic of Khakassia sentenced 56-year-old Joseph Gelyastanov to a fine of 110 thousand rubles in the case of repeated discrediting of the Russian army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). The sister of the convicted person told OVD-Info about this; The case file is on the court website.
Gelyastanov was detained in St. Petersburg, where he lived and worked as a massage therapist, looking for clients through the Avito service. On October 31, a man wrote to the man and said he lived near him and asked for a massage in the near future. When Gelyastanov left the house with a massage table, he was detained by security forces.
After the arrest, Joseph Gelyastanov was taken to Khakassia: the reason for initiating the case was anti-war posts on VKontakte, which the man published in 2023, while in the region. The sister of the person involved in the case told OVD-Info that Gelyastanov adheres to pacifist views.
As a preventive measure, the man was given a recognizance not to leave the place: during the investigation, he could not travel outside the village of Efremkino, Shirinsky district of Khakassia.
A case under the first part of the criminal article on defamation can be brought against those who were previously prosecuted under a similar administrative article. So, in June 2022, when Gelyastanov lived in Sochi, he was fined 50 thousand rubles under the article on discrediting the Russian Army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) because of anti-war inscriptions on the railway platform and breakwaters.
In 2023, security forces held a conversation with Gelyastanov because of his anti-war publications.
- 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.