Press Release, 17.02.2023

Photo: Anatoly Nogovitsyn / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

The Yakutsk City Court has just completed hearings on the testimony of witnesses within the framework of prosecution of Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Chairman of the Yabloko branch in Yakutia. The criminal case against Nogovitsyn was filed for his alleged “discrediting the army”. The eight witnesses declared by the public prosecutor include three security officials, one police expert, two students who admitted that they were forced to become witnesses in the case, one citizen who “experienced anxiety” and one woman who refused to come to court. The debate of the parties is scheduled on 1 March.

It should be noted that Nogovitsyn is being tried under Article 280.3 Part 1 of the Criminal Code (“discrediting the army”) for publishing a video message to the residents of Yakutia on his personal Telegram channel, in which Nogovitsyn voiced his opinion about “partial mobilisation” and a special operation.

At the trial, students Erel Bochkaryov and Valentin Stepanov said that the investigative actions described in the protocols of interrogation did not correspond to reality: the students were forced to sign an act of an operational measure in which they did not participate. The students did not see either Nogovitsyn’s video or the disc that the police officers allegedly sealed up in their presence. In addition, at the trial, the witnesses stated that the police on the eve of the trial instructed them on what to say.

The first investigator who dealt with the criminal case of Nogovitsyn and who denied Nogovitsyn the right to call a lawyer, Sergei Grigoryev, also acted as a witness. He was summoned to court so that he would testify about the mistakes made in the criminal case. The investigator answered the lawyer’s questions about the violation of the right to defence in contradictory ways and in the end stated that he did not remember anything for sure.

Police officer Nikita Maksimov spoke about the technical characteristics and capabilities of the Nogovitisn’s gadgets, and also described how the Telegram application works, justified his competence in these matters with the words “I am an experienced user”.

Another witness for the prosecution was Sergei Dvornikov, an employee of the Department for Combating Extremism, who with his colleague detained the leader of the Yakutian Yabloko, intimidated him, and, together with his colleagues, illegally took away Nogovitsyn’s phone. Dvornikov said that their department was monitoring social networks and detected offences, in other words, they were implementing surveillance over people.

A resident of Yakutsk, Gavril Popov, said at the trial that after watching the video on the Telegram channel of Anatoly Nogovitsyn, he “experienced anxiety” and decided to tell the police about it, by some “accident” he immediately went to the police station, and when he came there, he was met by investigator Avdyushkina, who had been investigating the case on “discrediting the army”.

Another “accidental” witness Viktoria Pakhomova did not come to the court hearings.

Police expert Vladislav Nikiforov announced a portrait expertise of Anatoly Nogovitsyn, which confirmed that it was Anatoly Nogovitsyn who appeared in the video posted on Anatoly Nagovitsyn’s Telegram channel. It should be noted that the expert’s conclusion did not bring anything new to the case, because the leader of the Yakutian Yabloko did not deny expressing his opinion on the video regarding the mobilisation.

Anatoly Nogovitsyn was also interrogated. It should be noted that the politician does not consider himself guilty of a criminal offence. However, the court has not yet taken an interest in his opinion.

Earlier, Anatoly Nogovitsyn was fined 30,000 rubles under Article 20.3.3 Part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (“discrediting the army”) after publishing a video commentary by Novaya Gazeta journalist Yelena Kostyuchenko about what was happening in Ukraine.

In addition, within the framework of the criminal case, the investigator assigned Nogovitsyn a forensic psychiatric examination, which took place in the same psycho-neurological dispensary in which the shaman Alexander Gabyshev was undergoing compulsory treatment. The expert commission, albeit distorting some of Nogovitsyn’s words, recognised the leader of the Yakutian Yabloko as healthy (https://eng.yabloko.ru/29463-2/ ). Since the end of September 2022, Nogovitsyn has been banned from certain activities.

Two more Yabloko members are under investigation on charges of committing a criminal offence: Mikhail Afanasyev, a journalist from Khakassia, is accused (https://eng.yabloko.ru/30122-2/) of spreading “military fakes” using his official position (Article 207.3, Part 2, Clause “a” of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The Chairman of the Kamchatka branch of Yabloko Vladimir Yefimov is being accused (https://eng.yabloko.ru/vladimir-yefimov-chairman-of-the-kamchatka-yabloko-released-from-the-detention-centre-however-he-has-been-deprived-of-means-of-communication/ ) in the case of “discrediting the army” (Article 280.3 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

In addition, at least 32 party activists received 40 administrative protocols on “discrediting the army”.

The Yabloko party considers the persecution of Anatoly Nogovitsyn, as well as other defendants in the criminal cases for “discrediting the army” and “fake news about the army”, to be politically motivated, and the articles of the Criminal Code punishing any criticism of hostilities as repressive and unlawful.