Yabloko launched fundraising among Russian citizens for an independent examination

Press Release, 25.08.2023

Photo: Nikolai Yegorov with his family / Photo from the personal archive

Nikolai Yegorov, Chairman of the Vologda regional branch of the Yabloko party, can be tried not only for “discrediting the army” (Article 280.3 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), but also for spreading “fake news about the army” (Article 207.3 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The first case has already been submitted to the court, the second, according to Yegorov’s lawyer Alexander Pikhovkin, is undergoing pre-investigation checks.

The odious “expert” Danila Mikheyev found in Nikolai Yegorov’s posts in social networks the presence of corpus delicti under Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“discrediting the army”). Yegorov’s defence motioned for recusal of Danila Mikheyev, the 23-year-old “expert” without a specialised higher linguistic education, whose “expert” opinions had previously formed the basis for blocking of the web-site of the OVD-Info project (an independent Russian human rights media project aimed at combating political persecution), administrative cases against activists Maria Alyokhina, Lucya Shtein and Daria Serenko, and a criminal sentence of 6.5 years for Smolensk activist Sergei Komandirov. The lawyer of Nikolai Yegorov raises the point that the examination was carried out by an improper person and in violation of the rules for conducting an examination. That is why the defence prepared a review of Mikheyev’s “examination” by an experienced expert.

The defence also intends to conduct an extrajudicial psychological and linguistic examination, which will involve two experts – in the field of linguistics and psychology. The family of Nikolai Yegorov has already spent 75,000 roubles on a review of Danila Mikheyev’s “examination” and asks for help in paying for an extrajudicial examination. Igor Zharkov, who gave independent opinions in the criminal cases of Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza and on the liquidation of the Memorial human rights group, will act as an linguistic expert. The examination costs 90,000 roubles. For a large family (the Yegorovs have six children) this is a large amount of money.

The punishment under the criminal article on “discrediting the army”, which appears in the case of the Chairman of the Vologda Yabloko, varies from a fine of up to 300,000 roubles and forced labour to imprisonment for up to five years. Previously, similar criminal cases were initiated against the leader of the Yakutia branch of Yabloko Anatoly Nogovitsyn, and the Chairman of the Kamchatka branch Vladimir Yefimov. In March 2023, the courts fined them 200,000 roubles each.

In addition, we learned that a pre-investigation check on Nikolai Yegorov alleged spreading “fake news about the army” (Article 207.3 Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) is underway. A criminal case under this article was initiated against a member of Yabloko from Khakassia, journalist Mikhail Afanasyev. The public prosecutor asked for six years in prison for him. The Chairman of the Frunzensky local branch of Yabloko in St. Petersburg, Vasily Neustroyev, who is now in a pre-trial detention centre, is also charged with spreading fake news, in addition to  other criminal articles. The maximum penalty under this article, which Nikolai Yegorov can face, is ten years in prison.