From 2022 — 2024, more than 9,500 administrative protocols have been filed in courts under the article on «discrediting» the army, «Verstka» analyzed 70% of these cases. The majority — 75% — relate to statements made online: on social networks, websites, messengers, and even banking apps. The remaining protocols were compiled for offline violations, mainly for active actions: public pickets and various anti-war actions. Meanwhile, 28% of the protocols for «offline violations» — are punishments specifically for words.
According to the publication, a significant portion of the protocols were compiled thanks to «reports from vigilant citizens». It turned out that discussing the topic of «SVO» is dangerous not only with strangers but also with colleagues, neighbors, and even family members — all of this can be recognized by courts as public «discrediting» of the army and in 90% of cases will result in a fine.
Over three years of war in Russia, more than 3,800 cases for «discrediting» online and more than 3,000 cases for «discrediting» offline were reviewed. This includes participation in street pickets, actions, and rallies, distribution of leaflets, anti-war graffiti, damage to patriotic posters, and Z symbols. Almost every third case related to offline actions — 848 protocols — pertains exclusively to words: expressed opinions, emotional remarks, or, for example, drunken jokes. Such cases are initiated after words spoken almost anywhere.
Subversive statements were found in educational and healthcare institutions, bars and restaurants, colonies and military enlistment offices, workshops of state enterprises, cabins of tankers, and on the decks of floating cranes. Courts reviewed at least 246 cases for «discrediting» committed on the street, with alcohol involved in at least 65 cases. Most often, those detained during such violations shouted pro-Ukrainian or anti-war slogans, sang Ukrainian songs, or argued with Russian military personnel. They also criticized the president. For example, Yegor Sirin from Yevpatoria was fined 30,000 rubles for the phrase «Putin puts himself above God» said on the street.
Shamsaddin Mamedov, in January 2023, was returning home in the evening with his cousin. In the elevator, he jokingly shouted «Glory to Ukraine». The slogan was heard by a neighbor who was in the storage room in the entrance. When the door opened, the man made a remark to Mamedov, but he, without responding, entered the apartment. The neighbor returned home and told his wife everything. The next day, the woman called the police, and two days later, the Nizhnevartovsk court fined Mamedov 30,000 rubles.
Andrey Balaban from Sakhalin, in May 2023, was drinking at home with his partner and talked about his attitude towards «SVO» and the authorities. The woman recorded the home conversation on a voice recorder and contacted the police. The court recognized these words as public «discrediting» of the RF Armed Forces, as neither the partner nor her child were relatives of Balaban , and fined him 30,000 rubles.
The most «discrediting» was found in annexed Crimea, followed by Moscow and the Moscow region, with the Krasnodar region in third place. Only in a few regions were there no cases for words: in the republics of Ingushetia, Tuva, Chechnya, as well as in the Amur, Voronezh, Tomsk regions, and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
More than 90% of cases of «discrediting» for words in 2022-2024 ended with a fine. The amounts varied from 15 to 100 thousand rubles, but almost 63% of offenders received fines of 30 thousand rubles.
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