The Ministry of Justice, in response to lawyers' requests, twice noted the incompetence of expert Danila Mikheev, who recognized Navalny's logo letter «H» as extremist. Letters from the Ministry of Justice are at the disposal of Mediazona.
Pavel Chikov, head of the Agora human rights group, writes that over the past three years Mikheev has become one of the leading linguistic experts on political affairs. He conducted examinations in criminal cases on the justification of terrorism against Sergei Komandirov and on «fake» about the army against Vladimir Zavyalov.
Linguistic expertise in the case of blocking the OVD-Info website, the demonstration of Nazi symbols against Lucy Stein and Maria Alyokhina, and the demonstration of Navalny's logo in Krasnoyarsk were also assigned to Danila Mikheev.
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In response to lawyer requests, the Ministry of Justice notes that Mikheev does not have the necessary professional competencies to conduct linguistic research, since he does not have a higher linguistic education. In addition, the expert does not have the higher psychological education necessary for work in this area and certificates of additional professional education in the specialties “Research of speech activity products” and “Psychological research of information materials”.
The response of the Ministry of Justice states that the only document on Mikheev's education — a bachelor's degree in conflictology — does not indicate that he has sufficient competencies in the field of linguistic forensic examination.
The manual prepared by the Ministry of Justice for conducting a forensic examination in cases of «fake» about the army and its «discredit» also states that the expert needs certification in the specialty «Research of products of speech activity.»
Chikov notes that before starting his expert work, Mikheev actively wrote complaints to law enforcement agencies on cases of disrespect for the authorities. Now, according to the head of Agora, the Ministry of Justice has «virtually disqualified» him. Meanwhile, no concrete steps are taken to review the cases, in which Danila Mikheev was examined, and to remove him, in response to lawyers' requests.