Press Release, 21.11.2023

Photo: Alexandra Skochilenko / Photo from open sources

The Qualification Commission of Judges of St. Petersburg conducted an audit of the actions of Judge Oksana Demyasheva during the trial of the criminal case of Alexandra Skochilenko. No violations were found. Earlier, in October, Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party Boris Vishnevsky demanded the Commission to check the Judge for compliance with the rules of judicial ethics.

“I believe that some of the actions of Judge Oksana Demyasheva – when she refused to announce even a 15-minute break so that Sasha Skochilenko [suffering from several chronic diseases] could eat and drink water for the first time that day – contradict the Code of Judicial Ethics. And the norms of morality and ethics too,” Vishnevsky said.

In his opinion, thus, Skochilenko was subjected to torture and inhuman treatment during the trial, due to the rejection of requests to declare a break.

The Qualification Commission’s response to Vishnevsky’s appeal stated that the refusals of motions were motivated, and no violations of judicial ethics were found on the part of Oksana Demyayeva.

“In accordance with Article 22 of the Federal Law “On the Bodies of the Judicial Community in the Russian Federation”, qualification boards of judges consider only complaints and reports of disciplinary offenses committed by judges if there is sufficient information in the submitted materials confirming the circumstances of the commissioning these offenses. During the inspection, no such information was received,” runs the response signed by the Chairman of the Qualification Board of Judges of St. Petersburg, Andrei Vlasov.

On 16 November, artist Alexandra Skochilenko was sentenced to seven years in prison under the article on disseminating “fake news” about the Armed Forces (Article 207.3, Part 2 of the Criminal Code). She was the first defendant in the case under this article in St. Petersburg. The reason for the sentence was her replacement of price tags in a supermarket with six pacifist leaflets.