Occupiers issued 514 resolutions on "discrediting the Russian army" in Crimea - human rights activists

Since March 2023, the occupation "courts" in Crimea have issued 514 decisions on bringing to administrative responsibility for allegedly discrediting the Russian army. These data are provided by Krymsos analyst Evgeny Yaroshenko, reports UNN.

According to Krymsos, out of 514 decisions on bringing to administrative responsibility for "discrediting the Russian army" (article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation), 38 were issued in November of this year. According to Yevgeny Yaroshenko, there is a negative trend, because this is 11 more than in October, when the "courts" adopted 27 such decisions.

For all time, the largest number of decisions were issued by the "Kiev District Court of Simferopol" (82), "Yevpatoria City Court" (47), "Feodosia City Court" (41), "Yalta City Court" (36) and "Saki City Court" (31).

In addition, during the period from March 4, 2022 to November 30, 2023, "courts" in Crimea issued 6 sentences in criminal cases on alleged repeated discrediting of the Russian army (article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). One of them was adopted in November of this year: then Oleg Valeev was imprisoned for 1.5 years for writing in social networks.

"Sentences and rulings in cases of "discrediting the Russian army" violate the right to freedom of expression under Article 19 of the International Covenant on civil and political rights, as well as Article 10 of the European Convention on human rights," notes Yevgeny Yaroshenko.

Recall that on March 4, 2022, Russian Deputies adopted amendments to the legislation providing for administrative and criminal liability for "discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation". Since then, the Russian Federation has been using this law to persecute people with views of a full-scale war that differ from the official position of the Kremlin.