During the debate in the Timiryazevsky District Court of Moscow, prosecutor Bogatyreva requested 7 years in prison for 63-year-old pensioner Mikhail Simonov, who is accused of spreading fake news about the army. This is reported by the correspondent of «Mediazona» from the courtroom.
Photo: Mediazona
Simonov is charged under paragraph «e» of part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code (dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of Russian armed forces motivated by political hatred). The charges were based on Simonov's posts on VKontakte about the bombing of Kyiv and the Drama Theater in Mariupol. According to SOTAvision, the comments were as follows: “Killing children and women, we sing songs on Channel One. We, Russia, have become atheists. Forgive us, Lord! and “Russian pilots are bombing children.”
During the debate, Prosecutor Bogatyreva noted that Simonov himself did not check the published information from the “propaganda” sources of the enemy and did not pay attention to the official statements of the Russian authorities. Moreover, according to the prosecutor, Simonov acted deliberately out of hatred for the authorities, and did not “blindly believe” foreign sources, as he himself said in court.
“The actions of the fifth column are especially dangerous because, while fighting an external threat, we understand who we are fighting. The actions of their citizens are a stab in the back and the servicemen, risking their lives daily, defending the sovereignty of the state, certainly deserve a strong, reliable rear and public support,” said prosecutor Bogatyreva.
There are two witness statements in the case. They claimed that after they saw Simonov's comments, they immediately contacted the hotline of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, because Simonov's words contradicted the reports of the Ministry of Defense.
Witnesses were interrogated in court during the consideration of the case on the merits. As SOTAvision reported, Anna Gel told the court that she saw Simonov's comment in her feed by accident, and she «doesn't like it» when people publish posts against the authorities and the state. Witness Plotnikova also said that she saw the pensioner's page by accident: she was angered by the «solid lump of liberalism» in the feed, Simonov «hurt Zhirinovsky and the president there.» During the interrogation, journalists noted, Plotnikova burst into tears and said that she did not believe in the crimes of the Russian army.
In recent years, Simonov lived in Belarus and worked as the director of a dining car on long-distance trains. In November, he arrived in Moscow and was detained, the Gagarinsky District Court placed him in a pre-trial detention center. According to SOTAvisin, the defendant «has difficulty hearing and speaks with difficulty.» He emphasized in court that he had “prostatitis and a bunch of all sorts of diseases,” but despite this, he was left in custody.