On January 19, a jury found 41-year-old saxophonist Andrei Shabanov from Samara guilty of committing a crime under parts 1 and 3 of article 354.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia (“rehabilitation of Nazism”) — Shabanov’s punishment should have been announced on Friday, January 28, but the meeting was postponed. A criminal case against the saxophonist was initiated after a man tried to upload a photograph of a young Adolf Hitler to the website of the Immortal Regiment. He was also charged with publishing several posts on VKontakte criticizing the USSR and the traditions of celebrating Victory Day. As Shabanov himself claimed, he was by no means going to “rehabilitate Nazism” — a man is intolerant of any form of totalitarianism. Similar words are spoken by other accused and convicted under Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code: someone was arrested for a stupid joke, someone for a drunken stunt, and some did not even suspect that they could “rehabilitate Nazism” by their actions. At the same time, the article was toughened last year and now the maximum punishment for it is a five-million fine or five years in prison.
The Novaya correspondent figured out who in Russia is on trial for the «rehabilitation of Nazism» and why such criminal there are more and more cases.
«Somewhere between genocide and unleashing a war of aggression»
On January 6, engineer platoon driver David Agaragimov, together with his colleagues, was returning from the canteen through the territory of military unit No. 51532 at the Molkino farm, located near Goryachiy Klyuch in the Krasnodar Territory. The conscripts' road passed by the monument to «servicemen who fell in local conflicts.» As follows from the reference report prepared in part (available to the editors), the sculpture was installed back in 2003 in memory of the soldiers who died in the Chechen war. According to another version, the monument in Molkino is dedicated to the feat of special forces officer Raushan Abdullin, committed during the armed conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia in 2008.
The sculpture represents the figures of two military men: one of them knelt down and leans on a machine gun, the other stands nearby, putting his hand on his shoulder. For fun, Agaragimov decided to approach the sculpture and show several fighting techniques on it. In addition, the conscript slapped one of the figures and kicked the other.
All this was filmed by his colleague (as Mediazona wrote *, presumably it was Amirkhan Ibragimov) and posted on his Instagram account, tagging a friend on the video. The video shows how a young man in uniform approaches the sculpture and begins to interact with it. Behind the scenes, laughter and shouts are heard: “Put it down, David! I bet you won’t put it down? ”; “If they had seen him, they would have put him in jail!”
According to Alexey Avanesyan, Agaragimov’s lawyer, the publication received “penny views” (483 people were signed to the account of the conscript who posted the video, the page is now unavailable). The video went viral at the end of the New Year holidays, on January 9, when screenshots of the recording were published by the Readovka telegram channel, as well as the Bad News page on VKontakte.
The video was watched not only by the conscript's media and instagram subscribers, but also by FSB officers from the Krasnodar garrison. They not only looked, but also compiled a report on the discovery in the actions of military personnel of a crime under Part 4 of Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia (“rehabilitation of Nazism”).
On January 10, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against two servicemen under this article. They face up to five years in prison.
According to the investigator of the Investigative Committee, the servicemen entered into «a criminal conspiracy to desecrate the symbols of Russia's military glory, insult the defenders of the Fatherland» using the Internet. The Investigative Committee also considered that Agaragimov acted “wishing to demonstrate his disregard for the memory of the dead paratroopers, thereby showing his imaginary superiority over society and the military personnel of the named special unit, expressing clear disrespect, denial and rejection of the norms and rules of conduct adopted in society” (quote on the decision to initiate a criminal case. Available to the editors. — Ed.).
The defense does not agree with the initiation of a criminal case, especially under such an article. As Avanesyan concludes, from the Federal Law “On Objects of Cultural and Historical Heritage”, the monument to “military personnel who fell in local conflicts” does not carry cultural and historical value, and the dates of laying on it with color cannot be attributed to the day of military glory or a memorable date. There is simply no legal definition of what a “symbol of military glory” is. In this regard, the lawyer demands to stop the case under the article on the «rehabilitation of Nazism.» As Avanesyan concludes, the actions of the conscript could rather affect public morality and security. But such articles are found in other chapters of the Criminal Code.