OVD-Info

27 July 2024 

OVD-Info is a Russian civil society organisation that monitors politically-motivated arrests and prosecutions in Russia. Each week OVD-Info publishes a bulletin with the latest news, which is translated here. To receive the mailing in Russian, visit here.

Hello! Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva has been sentenced in a military ‘fake news’ case, the State Duma passed amendments criminalising the cultural glorification of drug abuse, and the trial of Ulyanovsk street artist Egor Kholtov begins for offending religious believers.

News 

Journalist for Radio Svoboda sentenced to six and a half years in penal colony under law on “fake news” about the Russian military. Alsu Kurmasheva was sentenced in a closed court hearing, as the case was marked for court as “secret”. Most likely, Alsu was prosecuted with criminal charges for her book entitled: No to War. 40 Stories of Russians Coming Out against the Invasion of Ukraine. At the time this case of “fake news” was initiated, Kurmasheva was already in custody in connection with another charge: failing to provide documentation to the Russian government to include her on the list of “foreign agents”. 

• Why is this important? Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian authorities have been prosecuting anyone who comes out against the war. In cases where these people aired their views in the public sphere, the authorities look for ways to punish that person with imprisonment. Alsu Kurmasheva was living abroad, and only came back to Russia to see her family. This was the chance to press criminal charges, and the journalist is now behind bars. 

The State Duma has adopted a law criminalising the ‘cultural glorification of drug abuse’. Article 230.3 of the Criminal Code, which covers cases where an accused person has already been sentenced under the similar article 6.13 of the Code of Administrative Offences (both of these articles cover drug abuse), is being amended. Duma Deputy Pavel Krasheninnikov explained in more detail: “Literary and cultural works will not be considered propaganda if drugs form an inseparable part of the artistic licence for a legitimate genre.” He did not, however, highlight how exactly “inseparable” would be defined. A civil servant also added that works released in the public sphere before 1 August 1990 will be exempt from the ban, and that works released after this date will have to have be specially marked. 

• Why do I need to know this? Those in power often see songs by contemporary artists as being drug-related propaganda, even if the lyrics only describe using psychoactive substances. This new amendment to the Criminal Code might become a useful tool for applying pressure on Russian musicians opposed to the government. The maximum punishment for breaching this article is two years’ imprisonment, and references to drugs can be found in works of quite a lot of musicians, for example, rappers.

Case against Ulyanovsk Street Artist Kholtov for Offending Religious Believers Goes to Court Slogans written on walls such as “Sod is with Us” and “Russhit”, pictures of Mary of Nazareth holding a big bottle of beer, the leader of the Russian rap group Krovostok with a halo of barbed wire, as well as other works of Egor Kholtov, have been found offensive to religious believers by the investigative authorities. Witnesses also gave as evidence a cartoon of the Ten Commandments with the words “Please Play with Fire”, and another work portraying Jesus as a dinosaur. News of the prosecution of this artist came out on 26 April. On 2 May Ulyanovsk City Police released a video of Kholtov’s door being broken down and Kholtov being detailed and handcuffed. 

• Why is this important? The Sova Centre, an research-based NGO, points out that the offence of “offending the feelings of religious believers”, as described in Article 148 of the Russian Criminal Code, is vague. The term does not and cannot have a clear judicial definition. In spite of this, Article 148 is used against Russian citizens in a varying number of ways. Even things like good-natured joking about the Orthodox Church is taken by the regime as mockery of the “traditional values” which have now almost been elevated to the status of official state ideology. 

Prosecutions Continue Against Russians who Donate to the Anti-Corruption Foundation Prosecutors have demanded that a Vologda city judge, Evgeny Molotov, who donated to Aleksei Navalny’s foundation a total of 1,000 roubles (£9 in the UK), be sentenced to two and a half years compulsory work in detention. Last winter his house was searched and he was remanded in custody, although in April his pre-trial conditions were changed to house arrest. In the city of Nizhny Novgorod, prosecutors have demanded that the activist Gleb Kalinychev be sentenced to four years in a penal colony for the transfer of slightly less than 2,000 (£18) roubles to the Anti-Corruption Foundation. Since September 2023 he has been remanded in custody. 

• Why do I need to know this? In both cases, the defendants have been charged under Article 282 of the Criminal Code which relates to the financing of extremist activities. Regardless of the fact that the sums donated were small, the two men faced a serious punishment. The powers that be strive to instil fear in those who would in any way support and aid opposition groups.

Features

A Picket, a Psychiatric Hospital, and Emigration A year ago, a 17-year-old called Kiril Chibisov, from Karachev in Bryansk region, held a single-person picket holding a sign reading “Free Aleksei Navalny”. For this, his mother was fined 10,000 roubles (£90), and the teenager himself was given 13 days in a psychiatric hospital. A year later, Chibisov again went out onto the streets with a placard, this time with a message against the war in Ukraine. The security services threatened him with 15 years’ imprisonment, but in the end he was punished for an administrative-law offence. Immediately following the court hearing, Chibisov left Russia for good. We tell his story. Continue reading 

“The Church underground”: How do Russian Anti-war Clerics Live, and Who Supports Them? “I do not see a role for myself in upholding a fascist power structure… Look after yourself and your family, no one will benefit from you being fined or locked in prison. You should leave, God is no longer here.” These are the final words of a video message recorded by the priest Nikolai Platonov. After this video he was put under surveillance and he expected to be prosecuted. However, help came. We talked with the founders of the project which supports Russian Orthodox Priests who have suffered as a result of their anti-war views, and with those the project supports. Continue reading 

Translated by Oscar Seecharan