Witnesses did not convince the defendant – Newspaper Kommersant No. 222 (7423) dated 11/30/2022

The Meshchansky Court of Moscow on Tuesday began considering the merits of a criminal case against the former head of the Krasnoselsky district of the capital, Ilya Yashin (included in the register of foreign agents). The politician is accused of spreading fake stories about the Russian army based on political hatred (clause “d” part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, up to ten years in prison) because of statements about the murder of residents of the Ukrainian Bucha on his YouTube channel. Before the meeting was interrupted due to a report about the mining of the court, the defendant to take part in the interrogation of three witnesses: the employee of the Center “E” who compiled the report on him, an expert linguist and an attesting witness.

The meeting was held in open mode, although earlier the judges, who extended the arrest of Ilya Yashin, who was in the pre-trial detention center, did not allow listeners and the press. The hall was completely filled with people, and although their movement during the meeting clearly annoyed the judge, no one was removed from the process.

From the indictment read out by the prosecutor, it followed that on April 7, Mr. Yashin organized a broadcast on his YouTube channel, in which he “publicly spread false information” about those killed in the Ukrainian city of Bucha “under the guise of reliable.” In the video, the oppositionist claimed that the inhabitants of the city were killed by the Russian military, and accompanied his comments with disparaging reviews of the current government, the prosecutor added. The defendant knew that the “false information spread by him” would arouse the interest of a wide range of people, the prosecution is sure, since he is a public figure.

Ilya Yashin stated that he does not admit guilt and considers the case to be political persecution for opposition activities.

He noted that in addition to his value judgment, he cited in the video the official versions of the events in Bucha from the Russian and Ukrainian sides, and also showed media materials both supporting and criticizing the Russian authorities. “My fault actually comes down to public doubt in the words of officials. Can you go to jail for this? Isn’t that against the Constitution?” Mr. Yashin addressed the court. According to him, he did not feel any “political hatred” when commenting on the tragedy in Bucha, and the prosecution has no real evidence of this. The oppositionist’s lawyers also consider unproven the state prosecution’s assertion that the defendant knew in advance that he was giving false information about who killed the inhabitants of Bucha.

From the materials of the case read out by the prosecutor, it turned out that it was initiated on the basis of reports from the investigator and the detective from the Center “E”. They indicated that a video made by Ilya Yashin with more than 1 million views was discovered by law enforcement officers in July. They saw signs of a crime in it, and the linguist expert concluded that the words of the oppositionist about the murder of Ukrainians by Russian troops were precisely a statement that contradicted the statements of the Ministry of Defense.

Ivan Kucherov, an operative of the Center E, and expert Marina Savosina, appearing in the case file, became the first witnesses to be interrogated at the trial.

The court also summoned witness Yegor Prikhodko, who was present during the search in Mr. Yashin’s apartment. Mr. Kucherov stated that the defendant did use various sources of information in the video, but presented them in an interpreted form, in particular, he criticized the message of the Ministry of Defense, presenting the versions of other parties as reliable. When asked by the politician’s lawyers what he saw as a violation of the law when watching the video, the policeman said that he had heard “about genocide.” The defense and the defendant immediately objected that such a word was not pronounced in the stream. Almost all other questions to the employee of the Center “E” the court removed.

Expert linguist Savosina confirmed that she considers the comments made by Ilya Yashin in the video to be statements. She called his attitude to the information of the Ministry of Defense negative, noting that he did not criticize alternative points of view on the events in Bucha. The defense reproached the expert for vague conclusions and bias, since she works in the forensic center of the Investigative Committee, but Ms. Savosina denied these accusations. Then Mr. Yashin ironically called the linguist “an independent lieutenant colonel of justice”, adding that neither she nor the investigation verified the facts that he commented on, which means that the study of his words is obviously incorrect.

The interrogation of witness Yegor Prikhodko was short: he said that during the search he was in the area where Mr. Yashin lives. When the police approached him, Mr. Prikhodko agreed to be present during the search, and later watched the video of the oppositionist and made sure that, judging by the situation, he was recording in the apartment being searched. The defendant called the witness a dummy and tried to confirm this with the help of questions put to him, but the court removed the questions on the merits, and the witness himself did not answer the rest.

After a break, the court was to move on to the defense evidence, starting by watching the videotape that formed the basis of the criminal case. But at that moment, an evacuation from the building was announced over the speakerphone.

The oppositionist’s lawyers informed the listeners who went out into the street that the trial had been postponed until Wednesday due to a report about the mining being received by the court.

Kira Heifetz