The Adler District Court of Sochi has sent a woman suspected of repeated «discrediting» of the army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code) to a pre-trial detention center, the press service of the courts of the Krasnodar Territory reports. According to Kommersant, this is a «citizen of the USSR» Marina Melikhova.
What exactly was the reason for the criminal case, the press service does not specify. In 2022, Melikhova was fined at least twice under the administrative article on “discrediting” the army (part 1 of article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) because of YouTube videos. For each protocol, she was fined 30,000 rubles.
In addition, the press service noted, in 2021 Melikhova received 3.5 years in a colony-settlement in the case of incitement to extremism on the Internet (part 2 of article 280 of the Criminal Code). This case was brought up because of a VKontakte video titled “May 9, 2020, the end of the Putin regime may come! It depends only on us!”.
“Less than 5 months after her release from the penitentiary, the woman again committed a crime against the foundations of the constitutional order and the security of the state. She is also an active user of social networks with a large audience and, being at large, can spread false information about the circumstances of the case, ”the press service of the courts substantiated the decision to arrest Melikhova.
On the detention of Melikhova, her associates reported on June 21. They associated this with the anti-war position of the «citizen of the USSR.»
The Citizens of the USSR movement unites people who believe that they live in the «temporarily occupied territory of the Soviet Union.» They consider the current Russian government illegitimate, and themselves as the legal successors of the USSR. The Ministry of Justice considers «citizens of the USSR» an extremist organization.