Tag: publicly insulting officials

Where Will Sergei Usoltsev Find 60,000 Rubles to Pay His Fine for Insulting Putin and Valentina Tereshkova?

Sergei Usoltsev. Photo: Kommersant/Activatica

Activatica.org
Facebook
October 6, 2021

Sergei Usoltsev, a resident of Sverdlovsk Region, was fined 60 thousand rubles [approx. 716 euros] for “insulting the authorities” (punishable under Article 20.1.3 of the Administrative Offenses Code).

The Sverdlovsk Regional Court rejected the defense’s appeal against the decision of the Shalya City Court, which in June ordered Usoltsev to pay 60 thousand rubles for a comment he made on the social network VKontakte. According to the prosecution, the comment insulted the authorities, specifically, Vladimir Putin and Valentina Tereshkova.

Activists have launched a fundraiser for Usoltsev, who lives in the village of Gora, 40 kilometers from the town of Shalya, Sverdlovsk Region. Recently, Usoltsev’s seriously ill wife, whom he was caring for, died.

The Ministry of Social Policy was paying Usoltsev a social pension of 1,380 rubles [approx. 16 euros] a month as a caregiver, but now he no longer has this income either. Usoltsev will soon be sixty years old, but, according to the new laws, he is eligible to retire only in 2024. He has also been unable to get a job: he is near retirement age, and there is not enough work even for young people in his village.

If Usoltsev does not pay the fine within 60 days, either the fine will be doubled or he will be placed under administrative arrest.

Source: ROSshtraf

Translated by the Russian Reader

UPDATE (9 October 2021). ROSshtaf has reported on its Telegram account that it raised the 60,000 rubles to pay Mr. Usoltsev’s fine in a single day!

Torture (The Case of Pavel Zlomnov)

mediazona-van
Illustration for Mediazona by Maria Tolstova. Courtesy of Mediazona

Man Who Said He Was Tortured by FSB Released from Remand Prison and Immediately Rearrested on New Charges 
Mediazona
January 31, 2019

Petersburg resident Pavel Zlomnov, who claimed he had been tortured by FSB officers, was released on his own recognizance on charges of arms trafficking (Article 222 of the Russian Criminal Code) and immediately detained on new charges, his brother Mikhail has informed Mediazona.

Zlomnov is suspected of having violated Article 205.1 Part 1 of the Russian Criminal Code: “public calls for terrorism, vindication or promotion of terrorism.”

“Today, he was released on his own recognizance in the old case that kept him in Remand Prison No. 6 for a year and was immediately detained as part of a new case,” said Mikhail Zlomnov.

According to the written order to institute legal proceedings, a copy of which Mediazona has in its possession, on October 31, 2018, Zlomnov, who was in Remand Prison No. 6, called the person who caused the explosion in the FSB’s Arkhangelsk office [sic] a “real hero of the people.” According to investigators, he also “publicly made appeals recognizing the ideology of violence, including appeals that were poetic in terms of their rhetorical structure [sic].”

The case is being investigated by the FSB.

Mikhail Zlomnov said that investigators have once again requested that his brother be remanded in custody. His custody hearing will take place on January 31.

Zlmonov was initially detained on January 31, 2018, on charges of arms trafficking. Zlomnov’s family reported that, when he was detained, FSB officers “jumped up and down on him, injuring his kidneys, head, and arm.”

Roman Grozdov, another defendant in the case, also reported being tortured.

Mediazona published a detailed account of the case in August 2018.

In late January of this year, Pavel Zlomnov’s brother Mikhail and their father Andrei, who are lawyers, were charged with insulting FSB investigator Dmitry Sablin, per Article 319 of the Russian Criminal Code, which makes publicly insulting officials a criminal offense.

Translated by the Russian Reader