Persecution of the anti-war movement report. November 2023

Anti-war rallies continue in different regions of Russia. For instance, on October 27, resident Dmitry Kuzmin was detained in St. Petersburg after he came out to the Kazan Cathedral with a sign that said «I don’t want to put my foot on anyone’s chest».

Number of detentions for anti-war stance by regions

Repression at the legislative level

Russian lawmakers did not pass any new repressive laws this month. In total, there have already been 49 such laws since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Criminal cases

Over the past month, we have become aware of 27 new individuals who have faced prosecution for anti-war statements or speeches. Among them, for example, is the Ukrainian singer of Crimean Tatar origin Jamala (Susana Jamaladinova), who was put on the wanted list in mid-October. A criminal case has been initiated against the singer for spreading «fake news» about the Russian army (Article 207.3, Part 1 of the Criminal Code). Earlier, she was arrested in absentia by the Russian court.

This month, new cases of coercion and violence against defendants in «anti-war» cases were reported. For example, Lyudmila Razumova, sentenced to seven years in prison for spreading «fake news» about the Russian army and for vandalism, spoke about coercion in the penal colony and interception of her letters.

Victoria Petrova, another defendant in the «fake news» case, faced abuse in a psychiatric hospital, according to her lawyer. Victoria was forced to undress for a «body examination» in front of male staff, tied up and shaken, and threatened with beatings «just as a welcome to a new place». Additionally, she was bound by her hands and feet to her bed and injected with medication that left her unable to speak for two days. While she was under the influence of the medication, the hospital staff threw clothes over her face.

In Volgograd, a city in southwest Russia, street artist Filipp Kozlov, working under the pseudonym Philippenzo, was charged with vandalism over anti-war graffiti. He reported being diagnosed with a fractured shoulder joint after law enforcers twisted his arm during his detention in Moscow.

Ilya Podkamenny, 19, is among those sentenced this month in relation to anti-war protests. He received a 12-year prison sentence on six counts. Podkamenny was detained in November 2022 in connection with calls for extremism (Article 280, Part 1 of the Criminal Code) because of leaflets attached to railway tracks.

According to the investigators, Podkamenny attached the leaflets in May 2022, when he was still underage. Later, he was charged with calls for extremism and public justification of terrorism on the Internet, financing of terrorist activities, receiving training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities, and preparing for a terrorist attack — all because of a few comments on Telegram, a downloaded book, and alleged plans to set fire to a military enlistment office.

Dmitry Aritkulov, 45, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison because of his Telegram comments, including the phrase «Death to the occupiers, freedom to the peoples! Greetings from Chukotka!»

A sentence was passed on Krasnoyarsk resident Igor Orlovsky for his anti-war posts. He was accused of rehabilitation of Nazism — the reason for the prosecution was a comment in which the policies of Hitler and Stalin before the start of World War II were compared — and of public dissemination of deliberately false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation because of a post on the Russian social media network VKontakte about the Russian airstrike on the Mariupol drama theatre. Earlier, Orlovsky was sentenced to three years in a colony on two other charges, also for anti-war posts. Now the court has partially cumulated the two sentences and sentenced Orlovsky to a total of seven and a half years of imprisonment.

Furthermore, a sentence was passed on Valery Badmaev, a journalist and editor-in-chief of the «Modern Kalmykia» publication. The Elista city court sentenced him to a 150.000 rubles fine ($1,680) in the case of repeated discreditation of the Russian Armed Forces (Article 280.3, Part 1 of the Criminal Code).

On October 11, the co-chair of Memorial Human Rights Defense Center Oleg Orlov was sentenced to a 150.000 rubles fine ($1,680) in the case of repeated discreditation of the Russian Armed Forces. On October 27, the prosecutor’s office requested that the fine be replaced by three years of imprisonment — this is the maximum possible penalty for the crime Orlov is being accused of.

From October 23 to November 22, 45 OVD-Info lawyers helped 81 defendants in 69 criminal «anti-war» cases in 38 cities. Our defenders also attended 3 interrogations in Moscow, Pyatigorsk and Volgograd, and 1 search in Moscow.

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Administrative cases

According to Mediazona as of 17.11.2023

Number of cases under Article 20.3.3 («Discreditation») by regions

A request to chip in on office supplies was considered discreditation of the army: the judgement was delivered on September 16 by a Kazan court. A protocol for discrediting the Russian Armed Forces (Article 20.3.3, Part 1 of the Administrative Code) was drawn up against editor-in-chief of the student media «Groza» Leonid Spirin. Apart from that, protocols for discrediting the Russian Army were drawn up against school students in Nizhny Novgorod. The reason for prosecution was a video posted on a Telegram channel with 26 subscribers in which the war in Ukraine was being discussed in someone’s kitchen.

Overall, during this month at least 166 new administrative cases under Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code were filed in court.

During this month, the OVD-Info defence attorneys participated in 48 administrative cases in courts and helped 2 detainees. For instance, in different courts of the Belgorod Region we defended Aleksandr Shramkov, who was being prosecuted for discreditation of the Armed Forces because of a banner on a lamp post saying «Putin is a murderer and a thief». We managed to overturn his fine on appeal. We also defended Vitaly Palukhin, an activist who was fined because of short videos posted on his private Telegram channel.

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On November 9, law enforcers disrupted a concert by the band Zero People in St. Petersburg. The band had previously been complained about by Z-activists because of the anti-Russian statements of lead singer Alexander Krasovitsky. On November 11, the members of the band recorded video messages assuring that the band’s songs and performances do not contain anti-Russian or pro-Ukrainian slogans, and that the musicians themselves support the «special military operation» and the Russian leadership. Presumably, the video shows the musicians at the police department after the law enforcers showed up at their concert. The next day the band cancelled their tour in 17 cities of Russia.

On November 16, Xolidayboy’s concert was cancelled in Volgograd after a complaint by a military man from the «Young Assault Force» movement. The serviceman did not like the video in which Xolidayboy says that «he is Ukrainian and snacks on salo (cured pork fat; traditional Ukrainian food)», as well as «uses eyeliner, puts on lipstick and tells young people that this is okay.» The band «Neschastny Sluchay» was removed from the play «Radio Day» — the leader of the band, Alexei Kortnev, spoke out against the war in Ukraine.

Students in Nizhny Novgorod Lyceum No. 82 are now officially forbidden to publicly criticise the Russian army, law enforcement agencies or authorities. This requirement is now part of the school’s internal regulations.

In Ryazan, Sergei Bakanov, the defendant in a case on discrediting the army, was fired from his job at a machine-building plant after his manager received a call from the investigator. Bakanov did not want to challenge this decision; he resigned voluntarily due to harassment he faced because of his criminal case.

In Voronezh, artistic director of the Chamber Theatre Mikhail Bychkov was fired after signing an appeal last year to end the war in Ukraine. Citing its own sources, The Vesti Voronezh publication notes that the artistic director «has not lost his desire for writing open critical letters, while the theatre has made no attempts to support those participating in the special military operation and their families by providing discounted tickets.»

Associate Dean of the Faculty of International Journalism at MGIMO Yuri Kobaladze was fired after he invited Ivan Urgant to give a lecture at the university.

At least two residents of Crimea were forced to apologise on camera: Ekaterina Osipova, who posted photos of blue-and-yellow objects, and Maxim Glebov, a pro-Ukrainian student at the Crimean Federal University. Since the beginning of the war, there have been at least 108 cases of forced apologies that we are aware of.

Blocking and Censorship

According to Roskomsvoboda

Buryat journalist Evgenia Baltatarova has been denied asylum in Kazakhstan. She is facing deportation to Russia. There are two criminal cases opened against her in Russia, both under the military «fakes» article (Article 207.3, Part 1 of the Criminal Code). The cases have been combined into one proceeding, since both of them are related to posts in her telegram channel «Baba Yaga Objects». One of the publications contains a link to a tweet by Maxim Katz that says, «What a horror. They dropped an aerial bomb on the drama theatre in Mariupol, and there were children hiding in there». The other post is about the events in Bucha.

Over the past month, Roskomnadzor has censored, among other resources, the website of the «Omsk Civic Association» in Russia because the association published a list of residents of the region who died in the war in Ukraine. In addition, the novel «Post» by writer Dmitry Glukhovsky was removed from the search results of «Yandex» and «Litres». The author was earlier convicted in absentia under the «fakes» article.

LINKS TO OTHER OVD-INFO DATA AND REPORTS

• Wartime repression reports. October 2023, September 2023, August 2023, July 2023, June 2023, May 2023, April 2023, March 2023, February 2023, January 2023, December 2022, October 2022, September 2022, August 2022, July 2022, June 2022
• Report in Russian «No war. How the Russian authorities are fighting anti-war protests»
• Report in Ukrainian «Ні війні»
• Guide «The anti-war case»
• The input of information in reply to the call for submissions: Challenges to freedom of opinion and expression in times of conflicts and disturbances.
• The Report on Civil Rights and Freedoms of Children
• Report «Blocking Internet resources as a tool of political censorship»
• Project on the law on «foreign agents» — «Inoteka».
• Report «How the authorities use cameras and facial recognition against protesters»
• Reports of OVD-Info and other organizations on the compliance of the Russian Federation with its international obligations in the field of human rights.
• Information on the human rights situation in Russia for the OSCE Moscow Mechanism.