The St. Petersburg City Court decided to transfer Victoria Petrova from the pre-trial detention center to psychiatric hospital No. 24. Her lawyer Anastasia Pilipenko wrote about this in her Telegram channel.
On October 24, the St. Petersburg City Court considered the defense's appeal against the extension of Petrova's arrest — she has been in pre-trial detention for 14 months in the case of disseminating “fake news” about the army. Despite the fact that the decision of the first instance court to extend the preventive measure was made in open court, the appeal was considered behind closed doors.
A new representative of Petrova from the guardianship authorities was present at the meeting. Previously, Victoria was sent for a forensic psychiatric examination, on the basis of which the court decided to appoint her a legal representative. Petrova’s only relative missed several hearings, so the court invited a representative from the Grazhdanka municipality, where the activist lived.
Lawyer Pilipenko once again explained to the court that there is no reason to keep Petrova in a pre-trial detention center: she has no previous convictions, she is accused of committing a non-violent crime, she has her own home. In addition, the defense was ready to post bail in a million rubles. Petrova herself said in court on October 24 that “no one should be kept in a pre-trial detention center just for the desire to stop the war and save people.”
As lawyer Pilipenko writes in her telegram channel, Petrova’s new representative did not want to get acquainted with any — materials of the case, but still sided with the prosecution and told the court that Victoria should be left under arrest, since she “does not understand what she is saying.” He also noted that Petrova “will be better off” in the pre-trial detention center, “so that there will be no relapse.”
As a result of this meeting, the St. Petersburg City Court decided to send Victoria Petrova to a civil psychiatric hospital. Lawyer Pilipenko hopes that Victoria will be able to write paper letters there.
On October 26, the next hearing on Petrova’s case is scheduled to take place in the Kaliningrad District Court of St. Petersburg. “We don’t yet understand how further meetings will be organized: on-site meetings at the hospital, or the court will find an opportunity to bring Vika to them. Again, tomorrow there will be more information on this matter,” lawyer Pilipenko told Mediazona.
She also said that the only thing known about the new representative for Petrova’s defense is that his last name is Milachenko. “We don’t yet understand whether he will be invited by the Kalininsky court tomorrow, but if so, we will challenge him,” the lawyer said.
Victoria Petrova was arrested in May 2022. The girl is accused of spreading “fakes” about the Russian army based on political hatred (clause “e” of Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) due to the publication of an anti-war post on VKontakte. She faces up to 10 years in prison.