The prosecutor asked for 9 years in prison to a student of Moscow State University Dmitry Ivanov for fakes about the Russian army

The state prosecution asked the court to appoint Dmitry Ivanov, the author of the Protest MGU Telegram channel, nine years in a penal colony and a four-year ban on using the Internet. The investigation accuses him of publicly disseminating deliberately false information about the Russian army (clause “d” part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

As transmits Telegram– the Prison MGU channel, created to support Mr. Ivanov, prosecutor Yulia Pravosud asked to count in the verdict one day spent by Dmitry Ivanov in a pre-trial detention center as 1.5 days in a colony.

Referring to the results of a linguistic examination, the prosecution stated that the text of the posts on the Telegram channel found “signs of political hatred and hostility” in relation to the social group “Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”, and in the “reposted” appeals of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, signs of “negative emotional assessments of President Putin and his actions. The conclusions of the examination, presented by the defense of Mr. Ivanov, the prosecutor considered incorrect.

During her speech, Dmitry Ivanov’s lawyer, Maria Eismont, agreed with the prosecution in only one part of Art. 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation that the posts of Mr. Ivanov were distributed publicly. The defense denies all other allegations.

“The prosecution is trying to criminalize the public dissemination of information about events in Ukraine. But the mere fact of public dissemination of information is not enough to bring a person to criminal liability,” the lawyer said.

The criminal case against Dmitry Ivanov was initiated on June 2, 2022. At the time of the initiation of the case, Mr. Ivanov was serving 25 days of administrative arrest for repeated violation of the procedure for holding a public event (part 8 of article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) and had to be released on the evening of June 2. However, after being charged with a felony as an activist left in a pre-trial detention center until a measure of restraint is chosen. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

Milena Kostereva