The author of the telegram channel “Protest MSU” was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in the case of “fakes” about the Russian armed forces. This decision was made by the Timiryazevsky Court of Moscow, finding Ivanov guilty of disseminating “knowingly false” information about the Russian army (Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In addition, Ivanov was forbidden to maintain public pages on the Internet for four years after his release.
Public Prosecution requested appoint the author of “Protest MSU” nine years in prison. Supporters Ivanova and human rights activists consider him a political prisoner.
The reason for the case against Ivanov was posts about Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and the killing of civilians in Bucha, Irpen and Mariupol. How informed “Mediazona”, a case against a former student of Moscow State University was initiated on the basis of “data from operational-search measures” of the FSB. According to investigators, the activist, “acting on political hatred”, spread allegations from March 4 to April 4, 2022, in particular, that the Russian army attacked the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, destroyed Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure, and also killed civilians. residents, and Russia itself is waging war, and not.
In total, the case mentions 12 posts of the Protest MGU telegram channel, Mediazona noted. At the same time, most of these publications are reposts of other people’s statements, including politician Alexei Navalny and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ivanov spent almost a year in special detention centers and a pre-trial detention center. The activist was detained on April 28 at the subway exit. Court the next day appointed he is under 10 days of administrative arrest under a protocol on repeated violation of the established procedure for organizing a rally (Part 8 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) because of one of the posts on the Protest MSU telegram channel.
On May 9, when Ivanov was to be released, he appointed a new administrative arrest for 25 days under the same article. This time the reason was a repost publications about anti-war actions from the Navalny channel. On June 2, the day the second arrest was completed, Ivanov was taken from the special detention center for interrogation to the Investigative Committee, and at his house passed search. Court the next day decided to put activist in custody in the case of military “fakes”.
Due to the arrests of Ivanov missed state examinations and thesis defense. In July, he was expelled from Moscow State University.
The wording in the testimony of prosecution witnesses in the Ivanov case coincide almost verbatim, noted “Mediazone”. Almost all of them characterized the activist “on the negative side as an anti-Russian fascist”, and his posts as “not corresponding to the position of the RF Ministry of Defense”.
One of those who testified against Ivanov was the former dean of the Faculty of Fundamental Physical and Chemical Engineering at Moscow State University. During the interrogation, she called herself a “patriot”, and the accused – a “fascist”, who “is a member of a political sect”, “hates people who do not share his liberal views” and “protects all the dregs of society.” In court, Grigoryeva hoped that the activist would pay for “anti-Russian activities,” the newspaper wrote.
Three more witnesses for the prosecution are former subordinates and a former graduate student of Grigorieva. The connection of the other two – the unemployed Ivan Lyamin and the artist of the Kolomna Philharmonic Mikhail Zhuravlev – with the Ivanov case, the journalists noted, is unclear. In particular, Zhuravlev explained to the investigators that he had testified in order for justice to prevail: “Otherwise, freedom of speech has become too much.”
Expertise in Ivanov’s case was carried out by linguists from the FSB. They considered the fact that his posts diverged from the official reports of the Russian Ministry of Defense to be sufficient proof of the guilt of the author of the Protest MGU. Independent experts concluded that at the time of publication, the information from Ivanov’s posts was not “knowingly false” for him.
Protection achievedthat representatives of the Russian authorities be summoned to court as witnesses. But those didn’t show up at a meeting. Attorney Maria Eismont, during a court hearing on February 1, demanded that the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry Igor Konashenkov, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya be summoned to court.
“Ivanov is charged with a grave crime based on a comparison of his texts with the statements of Nebenzi, Lavrov and Konashenkov. This means that these people are essentially witnesses for the prosecution, therefore, he has the right to interrogate them in court, ”the defender explained.
Court satisfied her petition and issued them subpoenas, which, according to data defense, reached the representatives of the Russian departments, but they, as expected, ignored the next court session.
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After one of the court sessions, Ivanov said that he was beaten by a guard. Po words activist, the formal reason for this was that he did not immediately leave after the meeting on January 18 to talk with a lawyer. Not allowing the defendant to talk to the defense, guard Aleksey Zhalnin dragged Ivanov into the convoy premises, lowered him down the stairs, turned off the video recorder and beat him with a truncheon.
In addition, the activist claimed, Zhalnin threatened to rape him with a club and tried to dip his head into the toilet. Ivanov also stated that a second employee was watching what was happening, but he did not interfere in what was happening.
After the beating, a doctor in the pre-trial detention center recorded hematomas on Ivanov’s wrists. Lawyer Maria Eismont assumedthat the activist was beaten so as to “leave no traces”. March 4 became knownthat the department of the Investigative Committee for Moscow is conducting an investigation into the beating of Ivanov. Its results have not yet been reported.
